


Second Chances

by Goldenpetal13



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU - High School, F/M, First Kiss, Frist Time, Het, Romance, Some bullying, fem! stiles - Freeform, fem!scott, majorily fluffy, some homophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-31
Packaged: 2017-12-29 23:38:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1011439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldenpetal13/pseuds/Goldenpetal13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU – Highschool, In which one member of the Pack gets a second chance, now it’s up to him to act on it. Time gets rewound and most of the Pack are back in High School, with a few very significant changes to the timeline. POV Stiles for the majority of the fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rated M
> 
> Warnings: No Slash (I know, practically unheard of in my fics), Het, Fem!Stiles, Fem!Scott, fluffy in place, other warnings added as required.
> 
> Don’t like don’t read, though constructive criticism is always welcome (plus any reviews). Also this is slightly different as there will not be the normal over the top climactic stuff happening, this is a much simpler fluffy type fic. 
> 
> I own nothing, literally.

**Then, Peter’s POV:**

 

_They’re dead._

_All of them are dead._

_Stumbling over Scott’s mangled corpse, Peter staggers towards the door at the far end of the room.  Smashing his fist through the wooden door he fumbles for the lock and snaps it open. Meandering down the corridor he bounces off a few of the walls as he holds his guts in his body, he makes it to the final room and he’s unsurprised to find Gerard’s already beaten him there._

_The mirror they’d been so desperate to find before Scott’s wedding is set into the far wall. The golden frame was just as over the top as Stiles’ research had suggested. With the others now gone Peter has nothing left, well nothing except revenge, and he’s very good at revenge._

_Gerard might be stuck in his wheelchair but he’s manoeuvring it towards the mirror and seems determined to reach it. Pushing off from the wall he’s been leaning on Peter struggles after him.  If the demented old man wants the mirror then Peter’s going to give him the mirror._

_Why anyone would want the mirror is beyond Peter. Stiles’ research over the last two years was very thorough, and it detailed exactly what would happen to anyone that stepped in front of it._

_Slamming into the wheelchair Peter shoves it towards the mirror, at the same time he feels the deep slash from the sword blow tear open further and he falls to the floor with a grunt._

_Glaring at Gerard he realises he’s fallen in front of the mirror, he’s spent most of his life chasing power, acceptance, and a way to keep himself and his Pack safe from the Hunters, he really doesn’t want to be in front of this mirror.  He doesn’t have any strength to get away and he smiles as Gerard starts to scream in agony.  Perhaps being forced to face his past with all his lies and deceits ripped away will be worth it if that damn Hunter also has to face his own actions, and the consequences of those actions._

_The first of his memories starts to rise and he mentally throws himself at them, the faster he gets this started the faster it will end, considering the lengths he’s gone to in the past to escape death he welcomes it with open arms, his family are all dead, even that damnable moral Scott, and they buried Stiles’ body last week, or they buried what was left of him after the Hunters had finished torturing him for information._

_Even he can’t believe how bad the hunters have gotten since he Bit Scott in the forest fifteen years ago.  The hunters are fighting a war, old Code verses new Code, and the new Code is losing, and with them the supernatural world is dying at the hands of old Code and the corruption Gerard spread amongst them._

_The mirror’s hold on him gets stronger and Gerard’s screams fade as Peter is pulled into his own memories, and while the mirror does indeed punish him by forcing him to see his own actions and the selfish cruelty that drove those actions he does get to see his family again.  He also gets to see them die again, the mirror shows him everything, including how his actions exasperated every situation, how his words lead to Paige’s death and in turn helped the dark druid survive.  He watches himself murder Laura, he hears the shocked surprise and betrayal in her voice._

_He’s spared nothing, no action is too small, no consequence too big.  And at the very bitter end he does regret everything, but he doesn’t regret his family, he doesn’t regret the few times he was able to save them.  And when the white light rushes towards him he smiles and hopes he gets to spend the rest of eternity with his family, his Pack, even the annoying teenage, now adult members, he’s missed Stiles, the man has left an open wound in his chest and he can’t wait to annoy him in the afterlife._

_Only the white light fades and he’s staring up at a very familiar hospital ceiling, and in his ear a voice whispers, “Prove your repentance, second chances are rarely offered.”_

_The slow steady beep of a heart monitor is his only company and he screams soundlessly in his head at being forced back to this point in time.  He barely survived the first time he was trapped in the burnt out husk that was his body after the fire that killed most of his family._

_“Come on Laura,” Derek’s voice walks through the door along with his nephew, only his voice is too high pitched, “Mom said we had to sit with Peter while she goes to speak to his doctor.”_

_“Well it’s your turn to read to him then,” Laura says, and she sounds so young, with that whine in her tone she used to have back before she started high school._

_His bed shakes and there’s the minute sound of metal before a very young Derek Hale appears in front of his face, he’s probably about ten right now and this isn’t what happened last time.  “Hey Peter, mom’ll be here soon, and she’s going to spend the next few hours with you, then dad’ll be dropping in,” a hand touches his and Peter can’t move to grasp it, he has to lay there and listen to Derek tell him about their family and what they’ve been up to.  A family that’s clearly alive and well, and from before the fire._

_“Derek,” Talia’s voice is stern, “What have I told you about climbing on things?  And especially Peter’s hospital bed?”_

_“Sorry mom,” Derek twists around to look behind him, “But mom, Peter can’t see me if I stand on the floor, he can only look up, that’s kinda boring.”_

_Another face comes into view and Peter stares up at his sister, she smiles at Derek, “That’s a very smart point, but still no climbing on the furniture, now get down.”  With Derek out of the picture Talia stares down at Peter, “Hey Peter, I’ve spoken to the doctors and they still don’t know what happened, we don’t know why you collapsed, but we’re not giving up, they’re still running tests, and one of us will be with you every moment of every day until you wake up, okay?  You won’t be alone Peter, Pack is never alone,” and her hand touches his arm right next to Derek’s._

_Another hand joins them and Laura says, “Yeah, it’s nice not to hear your sarcasm, but it’s too quiet without you Uncle Peter, who am I supposed to argue with?  Derek just does get it.”_

_“Hey!” Derek growls, “Mom, Laura’s picking on me again.”_

_Rolling her eyes Talia winks at Peter and then says, “Laura don’t be mean to your brother, and Derek she doesn’t mean it.”_

_Confused Peter lays there and wonders that the hell is going on, he should be dead right now, he led a very blameful life, the mirror should have killed him with the weight of his sins.  All he can see is his sister’s face, all he hear is his family, all he can smell is his family.  If this some kind of punishment for his life then it’s a pointless punishment, he’s back with his family and this time he won’t screw it up._

 

**Now, Stiles’ POV:**

 

“Stiles!” Her dad yells and bangs his hand on her bedroom door, “Rise and shine sunbeam, first day of school, don’t be late!”

 

Groaning Stiles rolls over and tries to bury her face in her pillow, maybe it’s just a nightmare and it’s still the beginning of summer.  Then her phone starts buzzing and the alarm goes off, nope, no nightmare, this is real, this is not a drill.

 

Grabbing her phone she turns the alarm off and groans as the cramps in her stomach protest her doing anything, including living.  Damn it, why did shark week have to turn up now?

 

Stumbling out of bed she staggers to the bathroom and slams the door in her brother’s face, damn brat, Tyler’s so determined to be annoying.  Showering she washes and grimaces as she has to race drying and bleeding, if she does it right she can get her panties and sanitary towel on before the red tide of death drips too much.

 

Groaning she stretches and winces rubbing her stomach, god periods suck balls so much.  Wrapping the big towel around her she shuffles out to go back to her room only to find Tyler bouncing up and down on her bed, “MOM!” She yells, “He’s doing it again!”

 

“TYLER!” Her mom calls out, “QUIT IT!”

 

With a giggle her brother dashes past Stiles and hurtles towards the stairs, she leaves him to it and goes to get dressed.  Pulling on some jeans, a plain bra, a t-shirt and a shirt, she stuffs her hair into a pony tail and picks up her bag.  Right now she’s kinda glad her dad made her get it ready early.

 

Stomping down the stairs she collapses onto a chair and lets her head bang onto the table, “Oh sweetheart,” her mom’s hand squeezes her shoulder, “Is it still bad?”

 

“Uh huh,” she groans, “Can’t I just have the day off?”

 

“No can do,” Her mom pats her shoulder, “Here I made you breakfast, I got your Adderall for you, and here are some painkillers baby.  Call me if it gets really bad.”

 

“’Kay,” She powers through the banana pancakes and knocks back the medication and pain killers.

 

Her dad appears with the twins over his shoulders, “Honey, have you seen the boys?” Both boys giggle and wiggle in his grip.  “The little scamps need to have breakfast before they go to school.”

 

Her mom sticks her head out of the kitchen, “Why dear I believe they’re over your shoulders, put them down and I’ll get your breakfast.”

 

“Wow, look mom was right, there you guys are,” Dad puts the kids down and Stiles snorts into the last of her pancakes.  She watches as her dad smoothes down his Deputy’s uniform and helps the twins sit at the table, she childishly sticks her tongue out at Tyler and then Dylan copies her.  “Stiles,” her dad says, “Stop teaching your brothers to misbehave, they’re more than capable of doing that on their own, they don’t need help.”

 

“Sorry dad,” she apologises and enjoys the rest of breakfast with her family.  She can’t believe how close they came to losing her mom, it was nothing short of a miracle, quickly followed by the twin brats, but she doesn’t care, she has her mom and that’s all that matters.

 

Getting ready to go to school she ruffles her brothers’ hair and makes them squeak, hugs her dad and takes longer to hug her mom, even after all these years her mom is a shade bit too thin.

 

“Have fun at school today sunshine,” her dad calls out after her, “And say hi to Scout for us.”

 

“Will do dad,” she waves and then gets into her jeep, well technically it’s still her mom’s jeep but it’s hers until she goes to college.  “Come on baby, time for school, who knows maybe this year will suck a little less than last year,” she doesn’t really believe that but if she says it enough it might come true.


	2. Chapter 2

Parking up Stiles climbs out of her jeep and pats the mirror as she passes it.  The painkillers have kicked in but she’s still in pain and she ambles up the stairs towards the entrance.  Around her kids stream from the parking lot to the school, random groups form as they start to fall into their cliques and she just knows she’s going to banned from most of them.

 

Snorting at the ridiculousness of them she turns as she hears someone call her voice.  It’s Scout, her friend is chaining up her beat up old bike, and waves.  Waving back Stiles waits as Scout starts towards her narrowly avoiding get hit by Jackson’s Porsche.

 

Catching the slight wince on her friend’s face she hugs her when she gets close enough, “Guess we hooked up on timing again huh?”

 

“Yeah,” Scout rests her head on Stiles’ shoulder, “I can’t believe it started today of all days, mom just gave me some painkillers and said cycling would help.”

 

“Did it?” Stiles has researched this and exercise, very light exercise, can help move things along.

 

“No, it still hurts,” is the only answer and Stiles laughs, “Not funny, I feel terrible and we have to start school today, again.”

 

“Hey maybe this year won’t suck,” Stiles tries to point out but Scout just gives her the look that lets her know her bullshit is not being bought, “Yeah I didn’t think so either.  But look on the bright side, maybe this year Isaac Lahey-Hale will notice you, I mean Derek Hale hooked up with Paige from the school Band, so love is kinda in the air, in an over the top cutefest of nauseating sugary gushiness way.”

 

And holy mother of god it was such big news for a while, one of the Hales falling for someone, and it had to be Derek Hale of all people, one of the unholy trinity that ruled the basketball court, along with his uncle Peter Hale, who was weirdly the same age as his nephew and Stiles wouldn’t judge but Peter’s siblings where so much older than him, and wow, she bets Peter came as a bit of freaking shock to his parents.

 

Where was she?

 

Oh yeah, Derek Hale and Paige.  So cute and the way he gazed at her he was like an actual puppy.  “Puppy,” she murmurs.

 

“What?” Cocking her head Scout blinks and looks confused.

 

“I meant that now Derek is a bit of calm and settled guy, well and truly under the thumb of Paige, who I heard finally allowed the guy to do something for her, he carried some of her music books,” She pauses, “Um, yeah what point was I making?”

 

“No idea,” Scout offers helpfully, “Something about Derek increasing my chances at Isaac? Or something.”

 

“Yeah, exactly, Isaac gets to see Derek being all happy and puppy like, he starts thinking maybe he can get some of that, so he looks around and guess what he see?” Stiles is back in her grove now.

 

“Um, cheerleaders? The groupies that chant his name at matches?  The popular girls, who aren’t us?” And just like Scout ruins the whole thing.

 

“Damn it Scout, you work at the local vet’s together, how come you two crazy kids don’t talk more?  He could see you for the totally awesome girl you are, fall at your feet like any reasonable boy should and then you can date,” she pauses, “And then I wouldn’t have to listen to you on Skype for hours on end talking about his smile, his hair, the way he handled the Pomeranian puff ball that swallowed a tennis ball,” distracted Stiles asks, “How did something that small eat something so big?”

 

“No idea, Dr Deaton had to operate and Isaac helped and afterwards,” Scout’s eyes unfocus, “He was amazing Stiles, he’s so handsome,” Stiles refrains from rolling her eyes, she lets her friend gush about Isaac, “And then he nodded to me and left for something, I don’t remember what.”

 

“Uh-huh,” Stiles is so used to this by now, “You know you could talk to him.”

 

That snaps Scout out of it, “I’ll talk to him the second you grow a pair of balls and tell Peter Hale about the giant crush you have on him.”

 

“Shh,” Stiles looks around and over by the cars both Peter and Isaac were staring at them with quizzical expressions.  “Not so loud, after I came out as Bi and told Lydia how I felt about her, you know the shit storm that hit me…”

 

“Us, hit us,” her friend corrects her and gets a sympathetic look on her face, “And you know Danny shut that down quickly.”

 

“Yeah me and Danny are like so tight too, not, he was just keeping the school as phobic free as he could,” Stiles grumbles, “I had to get stiches because of that. So no, Peter Hale, the freaking team captain of the Beacon Hills Wolves basketball team is never going to find out about the highly inconvenient infatuation I am currently stuck with that’s all about him okay?”

 

“What?” Scout looks more confused.

 

Sighing Stiles pats her best friend’s shoulder, “We are never telling Peter Hale that I have a crush on him and totally want to have his babies, okay?”

 

“Okay,” they start walking towards the school, “You really want his babies?”

 

“Do you want Isaac’s?” Stiles counters.

 

“Not just yet,” Scout is so serious that Stiles does roll her eyes this time.  “Maybe later, we could get married, do college, open our own business as vets, or we could expand Deaton’s.”

 

“Sometimes you are so literal,” Stiles leads the way to their lockers.

 

School might suck but at least she has Scout.  Linking arms they get ready to take on the world, and if they wince occasionally, well that’s just life for you.

 

oOOooOOooOOo

 

In English Stiles is grateful for a chance to sit down.  The teacher is talking about Kafka and she wonders how this is even relevant to her and her life, ever.  God they never study anything good or fun.  Hiding her sigh she tries to concentrate and makes notes, but it’s so boring that she struggles not to zone out.

 

At the end she shoves her books in her bag and waits impatiently for Scout so they can escape this part of the nightmare.  They do escape it and both of them survive the day without incident and Stiles hopes that’s a sign that life is improving, it might not last but she’s fine with one day not blowing up in her face.

 

Standing by their lockers Scout is giving her a hopeful look, “No,” she’s not going, she’s not going to torture herself with this.

 

“Please…” Her friend pleads and widens her eyes.

 

“Damn it Scout, quit it, stop doing the puppy dog eye thing,” she tries so hard to say no and then her shoulders slump, “Fine, you win, we’ll go watch the basketball try outs like the groupies, we’ll sit there and sigh over Isaac and Peter and then we’ll go home alone, again.”

 

“Thanks,” the sarcasm and negativity goes right over her friend’s head and instead she’s dragged to the court to find an out of way spot to ogle the manliness that’s soon going to be on display.

 

Most of the school is there, including the lacrosse team, they won’t get their try-outs until tomorrow.  Jackson is glaring at everyone and Stiles does not smirk at the guy, just because he’s the captain of the losing lacrosse team and a jock did not make him royalty in this school.  The dick certainly acts like it though and Stiles has to admit that Peter does tend to rein his team in when they get too cocky and up themselves.

 

The crowd lets out a sigh and she looks over to see Peter, Isaac, and Derek walk onto the court.  Derek waves at Paige who waves back and then buries her nose in a book of music.  Paige misses most of the glares from the Derek fans, apparently she’s not acting vapid enough and hanging off of him in an adoring enough way, Stiles tells Scout that who laughs and then Derek is looking over at them and smiling.

 

Weird.

 

Coach Finstock charges onto the court and then proceeds to make it even more chaotic and crazy, because crazy is as crazy does.  He coaches both teams, the basketball and the lacrosse teams, he’s hoping that Jackson and Danny can do something with the team this year but he’s not holding his breath.

 

Stiles mentally predicts that Peter, Isaac and Derek will all be on this year’s basketball team and she guesses correctly. She’s immensely unsurprised when Peter’s made team captain again.

 

Scout wants to stay a little longer and gaze at Isaac but she hustles her off, Scout has work this evening and she has some homework to do, “But Stiles,” she whines.

 

“No, no more ogling Isaac for you, you can’t ogle him until you work up the courage to talk to him, then you can ogle him all you want,” Stiles pushes her towards the exit.

 

“But… How about I ogle my one and you ogle your one,” and it’s a very tempting offer.

 

“No can do Scout, if I learnt anything from last year and the deep humiliation and pain, is that I’m not doing the crazy stalker thing again, Lydia was surprisingly nice in her cutting let down, while making sure that not one seed of hope could grow, ever, so I’m not going through that with Peter.  He’ll never look at me, he’ll never notice me, he’ll never talk to me.  I’ll just go home and use my brand new battery operated toys and think about him.”

 

“Stiles!” Scout complains, “TMI again!”

 

“What? Women are allowed to masturbate, and frankly Peter is hot, and smart, and funny, and slightly evil, he’s like my perfect other half I’ll never ever get to be with.  Other than Lydia he’s my only rival for the end of my high school career for valedictorian, and damn it I’m giving that my best shot.”  She smirks at her friend, “Besides you know I’m in too much pain right now, once my period is out of the way I am so buying new batteries,” she laughs at Scout’s expression.  “Come on Scout, time for homework and then you’re going to work and I’m annoying my brothers.”

 

“Fine,” her friend sighs and they walk out of the basketball court.


	3. Chapter 3

Chilling online Stiles eyes up the battlefield, she can’t believe this over the top dick is calling himself a group leader and is insulting gamer girls, he doesn’t realise that most of his group is made up of girls.  Grinning Stiles watches as the women back off and let the idiot die on screen.

 

They finish without him and go to divide up their spoils.  Walking off with some things she’s been looking for a while Stiles logs out and stretches.  She’s tired and wants to go to bed but her ADHD is playing her up and she fidgets when her Skype pings letting her know Scout’s online.

 

Calling her friend she’s about to punch the call button but her friend’s beaten her to it and she clicks acceptance as her screen fills with Scout’s face, “Hey how was work?”

 

“Stiles!” Scout’s moving so much the camera can’t track her, “Guess what happened at work today! You’ll never guess!”

 

Her friend is so excited that Stiles can’t guess, “You either got a raise or else you did something epic and saved an animal’s life?”

 

Pausing Scout nods, “Well it was epic, and I did help Isaac set a dog’s leg, but he hit the dog, because it was raining, and then he brought the dog to work, and we saved the dog,” and she pauses again, “He asked me out, Stiles, Isaac asked me out!”

 

She can feel her jaw drop, “He did what?” She asks faintly, “Seriously?  He asked you out like on a date? Like dating out? Or we’re buddies and work together out?” Oh holy mother of god, she hopes for Scout’s sake it’s the dating type of date.

 

“Date, he wants to date me, he wants to take me to the party at Lydia’s this weekend, and he said I’m pretty and different to the other girls, and he totally said he didn’t realise that girls like me and Paige were real because of all the girls that keep making passes at him in school,” Scout says it so quickly that Stiles isn’t sure she’s caught all of it, except that Isaac Lahey-Hale, adopted son of the Hales, wants to date her friend Scout.

 

“Okay then,” and they spend an hour brainstorming what Scout can wear the next day.  She can’t look over eager but she wants to look nice, and it’s a fine balance considering her wardrobe is as limited as Stiles’  The find the perfect outfit and Scout logs off to go tell her mom who’s just gotten back from work.

 

Staring at her screen Stiles lets her smile fall and tells herself to just be happy for her friend, just because Scout is going to be leaving Stiles behind so she can join the popular kids don’t mean that Stiles is going to be lonely and friendless at school.

 

A cramp calls her on her bullshit and she goes to refill her hot water bottle.  Curling into her she hugs her covers and promises herself to be happy for her friend, she knows Scout would do the same for her. And anyway she was fine on her own before Scout moved into Beacon Hills, and it doesn’t matter that they’ve been friends for more than half their lives, she’ll be totally fine.

 

oOOooOOooOOo

 

Having picked Scout up that morning Stiles keeps her smile plastered on her face and gives her BFF pep talks.  This is kinda a big thing and Stiles is so nervous that this is just some kind of joke and it’s all going to go to hell in a hand basket, she just really hopes that Isaac’s serious about this.  Derek seems to be a good boyfriend and she hopes it’s rubbed off on Isaac, the kid was abused by his dad right after his mom died, luckily the Hales stumbled over it somehow and Stiles overheard her dad telling her mom how they found Isaac locked in the freezer in the basement, old Coach Lahey had totally gone off the rails.

 

Parking up she jumps out of her jeep and is so grateful the cramps have dropped in severity already.  Scout’s never last long so they’ll pretty much be gone by the end of today and she envies her friend the light periods instead of the hell on earth hers are.

 

Hurrying to her friend she fusses over her a little, “Scout you are an amazing, beautiful, strong woman, and you are going to knock them dead, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Scout’s smile is nervous, “Oh god Stiles, he’s walking this way, what do I do?”

 

How the hell should she know?  She’s never been on anyone’s radar, ever, except as a nuisance so she improvises, “Smile at him Scout, and when he gets here say hi.”

 

Isaac looks a little pale and then he’s standing there with a bashful smile on his face.  Stiles nudges her friend with an elbow and holds her breath as Scott smiles back at Isaac and says, “Hi.”

 

“Hi,” Isaac replies and then they both stare at each other and Stiles cannot believe this is her life.

 

“So,” she breaks into the non conversation that’s happening, “Here,” she passes him Scout’s hand, “You should probably go in, I mean school’s about to start, and I’ll meet you in class, I have something I need in my jeep.”

 

“Sure,” Isaac says a big dazedly and the pair of them walk off hand in hand, and Stiles feels a bit better about the whole thing because Isaac isn’t acting like this is a joke, he’s acting nervous and excited.

 

“Well here’s hoping you two crazy kids have a great life,” Stiles whispers, “And Isaac Lahey-Hale, you hurt my friend, my sis, and I will make you pay so bad for that, I can’t think of anything right now, but it will be big and it will be epic.”  It doesn’t matter that he can’t hear her, she knows she did it and she will keep her promise.

 

Turning to her car she fakes messing around in the back and then walks into school by herself, it’s weird not having Scout there and she fakes happiness so well she’ll have herself convinced of it by the end of the day.

 

oOOooOOooOOo

 

She’s miserable, she’s spent all morning by herself and only caught glimpses of Scout in the distance, but the whole school is talking about it and Stiles is happy for her friend, she’s never seen her smile this big before.

 

Shooting off a text to Scout she tells her she has to study in the library at lunch time and then avoids the canteen.  It’ll hurt too much to go and sit by herself while Scout sits on the popular table, though she’s torn and wants to lurk nearby so that if anything goes wrong she can protect her friend.

 

Hungry she ignores her stomach and sits in a corner as quietly as she can, burying her nose in a book she tries to zone out but ends up putting her iPod on and half listening to it as she passes the time.

 

Managing to survive lunch she goes to her next class and its Chemistry, oh god she hates Chemistry.  Walking in she sees Scout and Isaac sitting together and most of the other tables are taken.  Isaac and Peter normally sit together so the space next to him is free but there is no way in hell Stiles is going to assume she can sit there.

 

“Oh look its Stilinski,” Jackson sneers, “I heard you lost your friend and went to cry about it in the library.”

 

“Jackson,” Lydia elbows him and hisses, “Leave her alone.”

 

“What? Just because she’s a friendless freak of nature…”

 

“Jackson,” Danny says it firmly and smiles at Stiles, “Hi Stiles, you got good grades last year, do you want to try being lab partners today?”

 

And that’s Danny in a nutshell, Stiles really does appreciate the offer and she smiles at him, “Thanks Danny, I’d like that,” she takes the branch he’s holding out and sits down next to him, she does notice that Peter’s scowling slightly at something.

 

Mr Harris staggers in and Stiles knows from experience if she were standing too close to him she’d be able to smell the alcohol on his breath.  The number of times the sheriff or her Deputies have had to pull the man over is unreal, he’s now banned from driving and blames Stiles’ dad for that, even though her dad vouched for him so he didn’t go to jail.  “Class,” Mr Harris slurs, “I’ll be handing out your curriculum now and then we’ll get started.”  He stumbles a little but no one in the class laughs at him, he tends to hand out detentions like they’re candy.

 

Peter hops off of his stool, “Would you like me to hand the papers out Mr Harris?”  And Stiles has always thought the boy is always a bit too sarcastic to really mean he’s being helpful, there’s this touch of evil about him, which is probably why Stiles likes him so much.  She also knows that Peter has tried to get the teacher to go to AA several times, not that Mr Harris ever listens, and she doesn’t understand why Peter keeps trying, it’s not as if he even likes Mr Harris.

 

She survives Chemistry and before she leaves she thanks Danny, he might be a nice guy, but that doesn’t mean she should be rude, her mom would hit the roof if that happened.

 

At least she only has to not kill people in History and she can go home.  Stomping to her lesson she slumps in her seat and gets to watch Scout and Isaac drift in hand in hand.  She can’t stop the smile flitting across her face, they are so going to give Derek and Paige a run for their money on the cute couple front.

 

Getting through the boring lecture Stiles manages to mostly make the right notes, she may go off at tangents now and again but that’s not her fault, the teacher was so boring and repetitive that Stiles nearly died of boredom, so much boredom going on.  In fact most of everyone is drifting off too so she grins when most of them jerk out of their own dazes as the bell goes.

 

And with that Stiles is free.

 

Texting Scout she asks if her friend needs a lift home, and then smiles when Scout says Isaac offered to take her home instead.  Shaking her head Stiles gets her stuff and winces as the cramps hit hard, god damn timing, she is so going to overdose on ice-cream when she gets home.

 

Turning from her locker she walks straight into Peter Hale and says, “Oof, oh,” staring up at him, but only slightly, he’s not that much taller than her, she can’t help but see just how very blue his eyes are.

 

“Hello,” His lips tip up as he smiles down at her, “You must be Stiles,” she has no idea what to say to that, “Aren’t you Deputy Stilinski’s daughter?  And I’m sure my family have said how lovely your mother is, she is one of the teachers at the middle school, right?”

 

“Err,” Her stomach has exploded into butterflies, oh god, he’s still pressed up against her where she walked into him, “Yeah?” Her famous ability to talk in any situation fails her because her brain is shorting out trying to cope with how close he is, and how blue his eyes are, and damn it he smells so good, like nothing she’s ever smelt before, warm, masculine, and wild.

 

“It’s nice to meet you Stiles, I’m Peter, Peter Hale,” And it’s like he’s introducing himself to her.

 

“I know who you are,” She points out and tries not to memorise how flat his stomach is against hers, “You are kinda the captain of the basketball team, it’d be hard not to know who you are, because you know, basketball team, and you being the captain, and you know stuff,” she rambles and wants to strangle herself to make herself shut up.

 

“So I did see you sitting up on benches yesterday, during try-outs,” And he says it like it makes perfect sense while she freaks out internally that he even noticed her, and then it hits her that he knows her name.  Peter freaking Hale knows her name.  “You and your very nice friend Scout.  I have to say Isaac seems very taken with her.”

 

“Yeah, that’s Scout for you, awesome all round person, and they work together at the vet’s, where there is working and them and they work, there.” Oh holy mother of god someone needs to gag her pronto.

 

“Yes, Isaac’s been talking about her since he started working there,” And Stiles wants to do a victory dance for her friend, this can’t be a big hoax, it can’t be, Peter Hale doesn’t do those.  Last year a senior did that to a freshman and humiliated her in front of everyone, so Peter tore him a new one and humiliated him in front of the whole school.

 

“Yeah?  Scout’s been doing the same thing,” She says and then adds, “I mean about him, she’s been talking about him, a lot, really a huge amount, but not in a stalkerish kind of way, in a loving never thought it would happen kind of way, and then they bonded over a dog with a broken leg,” And she’s still rambling.  “Really I’m sure I’ve heard every way of saying his curls are adorable and his eyes are blue, but not blue like yours, Jesus you’re eyes are unreal and I’m going to stop talking now.”

 

Taking a deep breath she waits for scorn but he only chuckles a little and then cocks his head to one side, “People talk about you but they never say how funny you are Stiles, I think I like you.”

 

For a second she could have sworn he said he liked her, she makes a garbled noise and nods.  He laughs and his eyes twinkle, “I actually came over to ask if I could get a ride home.  Isaac’s taking Scout home and I didn’t want to get in the way.”

 

“Ride? Home?” She mangles it a bit and then nods, “Sure, no probs, ride home, I can totally do that Peter, absolutely, one ride home coming up.”

 

“Thank you,” And he steps back so cold air hits her, that was weird it was like he was hotter than he should be, and yeah he’s hot, but not that type of hot.


	4. Chapter 4

Driving in silence she concentrates on the road, the Hales live in one huge ass mansion outside of town back in the woods.  Since she first saw a modern horror Stiles has wondered why a filming crew haven’t knocked on their door and asked to use it as a location, it’s like a horror movie set waiting to happen.  Couple that with the so called wolf howls that ring out at night sometimes and she kind of expects to see big hulking wolf shapes in amongst the trees.

 

Turning down the drive she swings around the giant area for cars and pulls up outside the front door, “There you go, one ride home, as promised,” she points at the giant house that he lives in and couldn’t possibly have missed.  Her hands are sweaty and she rubs them on her jeans and tries to act like driving Peter home is a normal thing and that the scent of him hasn’t filled her jeep and made her head spin.

 

He just twists his head around to look at her, “Thank you Stiles, I really appreciate it.  Tomorrow I’ll make sure to take my own car, that way Derek and Isaac can go gaze at their girlfriends as much as they want to.”

 

“Awesome,” She squeaks out and manages to wrestle the comment of how each of them are acting like love stick fools down so it doesn’t escape, along with puppy dog jokes and candy sweet gushiness.

 

He does the head tilt thing again, “I owe you a ride Stiles,” and her mind sinks into the gutter, along with her body which might be attempting to scrape her uterine wall clean with painful muscle contractions but perks right up with the thought of Peter Hale and ‘rides’.

 

“No, nope, that’s cool, no rides are owed, this is a free ride just for you, debt free, no strings attached,” and she is going to hate herself when she can think again, because she’s fairly sure that he’s just offering to drive her to school, so everyone can see her arrive with Peter Hale, The, Peter Hale. 

 

Oh god this is her chance and she’s going to blow it, she kept telling Scout to talk to Isaac and look what happened to her.

 

And this is kind of not that big a deal for her, at no point in their lives do her and Peter mix so when he avoids her it won’t be a big deal.  There’s no one here either.  No one to listen as he turns her down, nicely, because she’s seen him do it at school.  Peter Hale doesn’t date, he might screw you for two weeks but at the end of it he walks away, and weirdly having Lydia break her heart means she has gotten over the strawberry blonde goddess quickly, maybe Peter can do that for her too.

 

“Go out with me,” She hears herself say, “On a date, on a proper date, date, not a friend thing, a date, like boyfriend girlfriend date,” and she internally winces at her own words.

 

She’s shaking, she’s actually shaking and she waits for him to say no and get out of the car and then never speak to her again.  “Okay, just let me get a coat and tell my sister I’m going out, I won’t be long.  Did you want to tell your parents you won’t be back just yet?”

 

“What?” And she’s hearing things again.

 

“Well they’re going to worry and they might already be cooking dinner for you,” He says and then grins, “I’ll be right back Stiles.”  And then he’s gone and jogging up the steps to the house.

 

Stunned she pulls her phone out of her pocket and dials her mom with fingers that don’t work properly, “Mom?”

 

“Stiles?  What’s wrong sunbeam?  Are you okay?” And she clings to her phone.

 

“Yeah,” And it isn’t a total lie, “Um, I just asked Peter Hale out on a date and he said yes,” her voice turns squeaky at the end.

 

Silence.

 

“Sunbeam, did you just say you asked Peter Hale out on a date and he said yes?” Is all she gets back.

 

“Uh-huh, yep, absolutely. I drove him home because Isaac had the car and Isaac’s dating Scout, you know I told you about it, and then Peter asked for a ride home, so I said yes, and then he said thank you, and now I’m sitting here in the freaking Hale’s front yard, and he was going to leave and then I asked him out, and he said yes, and he’s getting a coat and I have no clue what’s going on or what to do next.”

 

A sigh floats down the line, “Oh sunbeam, trust you to ask the boy you’ve been crushing on for years out, even after the debacle with Lydia, well in that case you need to take him on a date, and get him back in time for his curfew, and remember to walk him to his door and don’t get handsy with him Stiles.” It sounds like her mom is kind of making fun of her and she swallows noisily, “Do you know where you two are going?”

 

“No idea, nada, brain not working yet,” She says and stares out of her windshield, exactly how do you plan a date anyway?

 

“Well in that case take him to the movies, you won’t be forced to talk, sit in the middle so neither of you can take advantage of the dark and keep texting me, if you don’t I’ll send your father to the cinema and make him chaperone you, okay?”

 

“Mom,” she complains, “Don’t you dare send dad, and yeah I’ll take Peter to the movies, he can pick what he wants to watch and I can freak out next to him in the dark, thanks mom.”

 

“You’re welcome sunbeam, but I meant it about the texting, you text or your dad will turn up, with sirens.” And Stiles knows she’d do it to, hell her dad would get a serious kick out of it.  “Love you sweetheart, stay safe.”

 

“Love you too mom,” she can’t stay mad at her mom, not after she nearly lost her.

 

Ending the call she looks up to see Peter sauntering out of the house with a black coat slung over his arm.  Oh god, she’s going on a movie date with Peter Hale, she may have done this a thousand times with Lydia, Danny and Peter in her head, but she was never this nervous, this shaky, her stomach wasn’t being attacked from the inside by butterflies and she wasn’t on her fucking period.

 

“Everything okay?” He asks and she nods, “So what are doing? Or are we going to make it up as we along?”

 

“Movie,” She knows that bit, “Then food somewhere, I don’t mind where, I’m not allergic to anything.”

 

“That sounds good,” he puts his seatbelt on and settles in, “I’ve been meaning to go for to the cinema for a while, but things got in the way.”

 

“Good,” she starts the jeep and then wants to bang her head on the steering wheel, “I mean not good that you haven’t had a chance to go, I mean good that you want to go because that’s good and we’re going.”

 

She spends the rest of the drive in silence and her hands are sweating again when she parks up and kills the engine, “We’re here,” she says uselessly and cringes, he is so not going to enjoy this, he’s probably just humouring her or really, really wants to see a movie and is putting up with her.

 

Standing just inside the foyer Peter openly reads the board with the films and the times, “Hey they have Iron Man 2 on, did you want to see that one?”

 

She’s already seen it four times and nods, “Sure, if you want to, I’m game for explosions and over the top effects, and Iron Man, and Warmachine, and they have Black Widow in this one and Scarlett Johansson is seriously hot and a total babe and I’m shutting up now, again.”

 

“Iron Man it is then,” Peter smirks at her, “I’ll buy the popcorn if you buy the tickets, after all you asked me out,” he winks at her and starts heading towards the food so Stiles staggers towards the tickets and buys two.

 

“Oh hey Stiles,” the woman called Trisha is on ticket sales again, “You here to see Iron Man 2 with Scout?  Or did you talk your daddy into coming this time?  Now how many times have you been to see the film?  Because I’ve seen you here at least twice.”

 

“Hey Trisha, no not Scout or dad, I’m kinda here with someone else,” She refuses to blush or brag, oh god, she can totally see that blowing up in her face.  “He’s getting some popcorn.”

 

“Really? ‘Coz I only see Peter Hale over there,” Trisha hands over the tickets and Stiles walks on slightly wobbly legs to Peter who greets her with a smile so she waves the tickets at him.  He’s holding a big tub of popcorn in one hand and two drinks in the other, and then he moves the arm with the popcorn so his elbow is sticking out.

 

“Stiles, put your arm through mine,” he murmurs, “I’m being a gentleman, reward me with your radiant presence,” and she does link her arm in his.  He’s draped his coat over his other arm and his body warmth creeps out as she moves closer to him.  “Shall we go and watch the film?”

 

“Awesome,” She nods and she’s aware she’s walking or stumbling next to him, and he’s gliding next to her.  Feeling like a concussed duckling next to a swan she refuses to think of anything, she’s going to enjoy this, damn it, no matter what happens.

 

And then she notices there are people, mostly kids, around the foyer and they’re snapping photos of them, “Peter,” she hisses, “Why the hell are they snapping photos?”

 

He shrugs, “I’ve no idea, I’ve given up understanding them, though I do believe we are about to hit facebook and twitter with a vengeance.  I’d be surprised if we aren’t the latest hot topic of gossip by the time the adverts start.”

 

A little stunned at that she drifts along beside him and hands the tickets over silently to the senior who’s staring at them like he’s seen something impossible.

 

Peter doesn’t bat an eyelid and then they’re picking their seats and Stiles makes him sit near the middle near an aisle.  “Why are we sitting here?” He asks and lifts the arm rest between them up so he can put the popcorn down.

 

“Um, because my mom said it was a good idea?” And that really did sound better in her head before she said it.

 

“Okay,” Peter wiggles in his seat.  “Did you hear the rumour that they’re going to do an Avengers movie?”  He hands over her drink and sips his own.

 

“Really?” Oh holy mother of god, the Avengers, that would be awesome.  “I know they’re shooting Thor now, and that they’re thinking of doing Captain America.  They’re both Avengers in the comics.”

 

“Don’t forget they’ve already done the Hulk, and he was a founding member,” And with that sentence Stiles’ jaw drops because she’s just discovered that Peter Hale knows something about comic books.  “If you say the Black Widow is in this one she could be in the film too, she’s an Avenger too.”

 

The cinema dims and Stiles has to fumble her cell phone to silent as she sends her mom the first text, the adverts start rolling and Peter shifts in his seat.  Seconds later she feels his knee touch hers and she tries to keep her internal freak out as internal as possible.


	5. Chapter 5

Proud of herself for not talking through the film, or fidgeting too much, Stiles taps out another text to her mom as the credits roll.  Robert Downey Jr was enjoying playing Iron Man way too much and Stiles hopes there really is an Avengers movie because she bets he’d steal most of the scenes he’d be in.

 

Also she hasn’t wanted to fidget too much as Peter’s knee had been pressing against hers the whole time.  She’d snuck glances at him throughout the film and he seemed to be riveted by the movie.  Between them they’d demolished the popcorn and the soda was working its way through her because she needs a bathroom break stat, or will soon.

 

“That was good,” Peter says, “I liked him in the first Iron Man but he really stole the show in this one.  So you ready to go and get something to eat?”

 

“Sure,” She nods, “I may need to go via the bathroom though, or I’m really going to embarrass myself.”

 

“Okay,” he stands up and gathers up their trash, “I’ll wait for you outside the Ladies, don’t be long,” he gives her another wink and she leaves quickly before she does something stupid.

 

In the bathroom she finds a stall and empties her bladder, damn it, she needed that.  The clean-up operation is made more awkward by her period and she takes too long.  Stumbling out she’s washing her hands when a group of juniors walk in giggling, “Did you see him?  Just leaning against the wall, and you know what Felicity said about him?”

 

“No. What?” Another one giggles and leans in.

 

“That he’s not much of a show-er, but he’s a grower and a half,” they giggle at that, “She said it was like this,” there’s a mini huddle and more giggling.

 

Yet another girl says, “Yeah but he might like sex and doing it, but Felicity said he doesn’t go down on you, he’ll use fingers and stuff but not his mouth.”

 

“So,” The first girl sneers, “What guy does do that? It’s just a myth so the dykes in life don’t feel like the freaks they are,” and Stiles finds herself on the receiving end of the girl’s glare.  “Why look who’s perving in the girl’s toilets, don’t you and Scout get tired of eating pussy all the time?”

 

Rolling her eyes at the insults, seriously these were so tame compared to when she came out, “You know you are so fucking ignorant, I’m Bisexual, I like men and women.  And Scout is Heterosexual, she’s not interested in women.”  Stalking over to the exit she adds, “And if you were the last human on earth with me I still wouldn’t do you, you are so not my type, I have standards.”

 

Sailing out of the door she leaves them spluttering behind her and spots Peter leaning on the wall opposite the door.  Huh, they must have been talking about him just now.

 

“Hi,” He waves, “Ready for food?”

 

Oh god, she’s survived the cinema with him by not talking. How is she supposed to survive dinner with him?  “Yeah?”

 

“Good, do you eat burgers?” He asks and holds his hand out.  Examining it for a few seconds she absentmindedly wipes her hand on her jeans before taking it.  His hand is bigger than hers and it’s so very warm.

 

“Do bears shit in the woods?” Is an automatic reply and she winces as he laughs.

 

“Burgers it is, I was looking forward to some curly fries too,” he starts walking and she follows him as she freaks out about holding his hand, oh god, this was probably one of the best days of her life, or in the top five at least.

 

“Awesome,” she says and then blinks, “Curly fries? I like curly fries.”

 

“Even better then,” his hand tightens on her for a second and she feels like she’s going to swoon, instead she walks next to him and tries really hard to ignore all the people taking more photos of them.

 

She drives them to her favourite burger place and they walk in together.  There aren’t too many people around and they get a booth.  She sits on one side of the table and he slides in opposite her.  Neither of them take long to pick out what they want. They’ve both picked burgers and curly fries.

 

Giving their order they watch their server get their drinks and then Peter turns his full attention to her and smiles.  She’s catalogued a lot of his smiles over the years, and she’s never seen this one.  It’s a little dark but his eyes have lit up, they don’t always do that.  “So, Stiles,” he says and she jumps as a leg touches hers under the table, “What do you want to do after dinner?  It’s still a little early.  Unless you have curfew?”

 

“Um, no curfew, well I mean I have to be back by midnight, but that’s it,” And while her mom has let her just go off she’s not sure how she’s going to react if she stays out too late.

 

“Well we have school tomorrow so not that late,” Peter sips his drink through his straw, “Hmm, how about you come back to mine, and we can do some homework together, that way both our families can’t nag us about school and I still get to spend time with you,” he blinds her with that new smile.  “Oh and I’m going to assume you’re asking me to Lydia’s party on Friday?”

 

She gets to spend more time with Peter?  Wow can this day get any better?  And then she realises what he said about Lydia and the party.  Oh god, she really wants to go, she wants to have fun and get a bit drunk, but she daren’t show her face, not there, Lydia’s being cool and just ignoring her like she normally does, but the other kids will rip into her.

 

“Stiles,” Leaning forward Peter covers one of her hands with his, “What’s the matter?  Do you not want to go to Lydia’s?  It’s okay we can do something else instead.”

 

“Something else is good,” she breathes out and tries to forget the way her shoulder twitches in remembrance of the stiches.

 

“Fine, we have a few days to make plans then,” he sits back but she notices he doesn’t let go of her hand, in fact he’s turned his hand over and has wiggled it under hers so they can hold hands at the table.

 

“Awesome,” she mutters in shock and stares at their hands.

 

“So do you want to watch a movie again? Or we could watch DVDs? We could go bowling, have dinner, play video games, mess about playing basketball, what would you like to do?”  He asks her.

 

“Anything but Lydia’s party,” she really doesn’t want to go and face people just yet, and she’s only been on one date with Peter, well she’s on one date with Peter, he might not want to go on another.

 

“Anything?” His lifts an eyebrow and for a few seconds he’s so predatory that she freezes and blinks at him.

 

That new smile is suddenly back and she opens her mouth to agree with him but then hesitates and says, “Nearly anything, for example I’m not up for stealing the Declaration of Independence and finding a long lost treasure on Friday, maybe next weekend instead.”

 

His laugh is deep and loud, “I’ve not seen that film in years, we’ll have to watch it sometime.  I was right about you Stiles, you are funny.”  It’s broken the tension anyway, “How about we go bowling on Friday, have dinner together, and then go to your house?”

 

“You do realise I have twin brothers that will bug the hell out of us both, and that both my parents are going to grill you mercilessly about your intentions to me, while making fun of me, nicely, and doing their best to embarrass us because they think that’s a valid parenting method, right?” She asks him and waits for his reply.

 

“If you put it like that I can’t wait,” he rests his other elbow on the table and puts his chin in his hand.  “I live with my extended family, which means my parents, siblings, their spouses and children and some grandparents, cousins, and other assorted family members are all under one roof.  It’ll be peaceful to only have a few people around me.”

 

“Wow,” she thinks back to how big the Hale Mansion is, “No wonder you have to live in a mansion.  How do you all fit in there?”  It’s tough enough with just her small family in their house, at least she can get space sometimes.

 

“We manage,” he shrugs it off, “Sometimes we manage by staying at opposite ends of the house to each other, but we do manage.  Meal times are like watching wolves eat,” he chuckles to himself and she can’t see anything funny in that, he’s twisting a few sayings.

 

“So if you had your way,” he sips at his drink some more, “Who would you have in the Avengers movie?”

 

“If it were up to me?  And I can pick any time period?”  She waits for his nod and then launches into her favourite Marvel characters, he counters with others and they wrangle over Wolverine.  She thinks he should totally be in and he says Wolverine is too perfectly suited to the X-Men as he’s such a loner and dislikes fame.

 

Their food arriving interrupts them and Stiles is kinda sad when Peter lets go of her hand so their server can put their food down.  Digging into their food it goes a bit quiet but she’s still really aware of his legs wrapped around one of hers.  When they do look at each other they smile and she might have to look away because she’s afraid if she keeps looking she’ll never stop staring at him.

 

It’s going so perfectly that she bits her lip as she snags a few fries.

 

And then Peter also snags a few fries, but he doesn’t take them off of his plate, no he takes them off of her plate, “Oh you did not!” She can’t believe he took some of her curly fries.  Slowly she pulls her plate back and circles an arm around it, because Peter freaking Hale or no, he’s not touching her curly fries.  “If you want something off my plate you can have the salad,” she points at the pile of greenery.

 

“So I can’t have some of your curly fries?” He fake pouts at her and she glares back.

 

“The curly fries are mine, no one touches the curly fries, the curly fries are off limits,” giving him a somewhat superior look she snags a fry and eats it in front of him and instead of getting mad, like she’s heard some boys could when they were denied something, he laughs loudly.

 

“Okay, you’re curly fries are safe from me, I promise to leave them alone, this time,” he takes a big bite of his burger and smirks at her as he chews.

 

“Fine then, I’ll let you off, this time,” she takes her arm away and carries on eating.

 

When they’ve finished Peter asks for the bill and then splits it, so she’s paying for his meal and he’s paying for hers, “Well that’s fair right?  We each get to pay for the other, and frankly you started it, you did ask me on the date.  I’m going to expect you to do that more in the future too,” he puts his money down on the table as she mentally reworks her budget, she can probably ditch some of the things she was going to do with Scout as Scout is going to be busy with Isaac for a while.

 

Getting up from their table she’s surprised when Peter reaches for her hand and they walk out together.  There are more people taking photos and she just knows that she’s going to pay for this tomorrow and she doesn’t care.  She’s told her mom she’s going to Peter’s and so far she hasn’t been grounded, so just for one evening she’s going to not worry.

 

In the parking lot she unlocks the doors and Peter clears his throat, “Stiles?”

 

“Yeah?” She glances over at him, the darkness seems to settle around him and his smile is even darker.  She feels her heart to start beating faster and she’s not sure if it’s because it’s Peter and she’s on a date or because she should run.

 

“I would like to ask you something,” and for a second she thinks his eyes flash gold but that has to be a trick of the light, his eyes reflecting the electric lights holding back the darkness.

 

“Yeah?” She stands there waiting and he seems to be thinking about something.

 

“It’s going to sound strange, and you can say no, I do understand the word no,” and he stares down at his shoes.

 

“Okay?” She says slowly wondering what he wants.  Maybe it’s sex, the girls at the cinema seemed very interested in his dick, and frankly she’s never heard of him dating before how. Hell the guy scored seniors when he was a freshman, and guys are into sex right?

 

“Can I kiss your right wrist?” Is not what she’s expecting, “The pulse point on the inside.  I want to kiss it.  Can I?” And now he looks up and he’s staring at her in a way that makes her want to melt and run, he’s no longer the boy she’s on a date with, he’s predatory, dangerous and she remembers all the talks her mom and especially her dad have given her.

 

“Why?” She’s not sure right now and she really wants Peter to like her but she’s also not totally stupid.

 

“Because I have certain kinks,” Does nothing to stop her worrying.  “And if we both decide to keep seeing each other I need you know that your pulse point is going to be a huge thing for me, that and your neck, when it comes to your neck I’m going to want to leave marks there, we’ll have to hide them from your parents but I want to know they’re there and that you let me put them there, that you let me and only me do that to you.  So Stiles, will you give me your permission to kiss your wrist?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look cliffhanger... :)


	6. Chapter 6

Uncertain she wavers, and then asks, “Just a kiss?”

 

“Just a kiss, a single kiss, on the pulse point of your right wrist,” He’s standing there and he’s statue still with his eyes glued to her wrist as she weighs her options.

 

“And if I say yes?” She’s already shifted her keys to her left hand and they’re resting there ready if she needs to slam them into his face.

 

“Then I kiss your wrist,” his breath catches and he licks his lips, “And then we go to mine, where my family will be constantly in the house and do homework.”

 

“And if I say no?” She challenges him.

 

“Then we go to mine and do homework, the only variable from your decision is if you give me permission to kiss your wrist, in which case I kiss it, or you refuse and I don’t kiss it,” he sounds so reasonable, and she’s never heard even a whisper of him doing something bad.  He’s stood up for others, he’s reined in some bullies, and her dad wouldn’t keep something from her, he’d have already charged in by now and pulled her out of this date if he even suspected Peter of anything.  Instead all she’s had from him have been smiley faces and threats of showing Peter her baby photos via her mom’s texts.

 

“Okay,” she holds her right arm up towards him.

 

“Stiles,” he hisses her name and that hungry look is back, his gaze is locked onto her hand, well her wrist.  “You perfect, perfect person,” he steps closer and his hands gently wrap around her arm holding her in place as he lifts her arm up higher, and then he rests his cheek against her palm.  “Say no Stiles, say no if you don’t want me to.”

 

She doesn’t say anything, she only nods, and listens as a groan is drawn out of him.  He moves very slightly so his lips are almost on her wrist and then his eyes roll up to look at her as he presses the softest of kisses to her wrist.  She shivers at the feel of his lips and his breath ghosting against her skin and tries to process the fact that Peter Hale is not only touching her, he’s kissing her and her toes curl in her sneakers.

 

Period be damned, she shudders at how good that feels, and she is so down with his wrist kink.  And then he’s letting her go and stepping back.  If she’s trembling in a good way and her wrist is tingling like fuck, he’s panting and acting like he just came or something.  Wow, he is really into that.

 

“Thank you,” his voice is husky, “You have no idea, just thank you Stiles.”

 

“Welcome,” her own voice isn’t much better.

 

“We should probably go to mine now, I’m not sure I could resist asking you if we could to do that again otherwise,” and then he’s turning away and getting into the jeep.

 

Shaking her head she climbs in and starts the engine, “So, homework then,” she pulls out of their parking spot, “Anything in particular you wanna study first?”

 

“Not really,” he’s staring out of the window away from her, “I just don’t want to let you go yet, and I don’t want to get either of us into trouble.  We could do some stuff on the English essay that’s probably coming our way.”

 

“Urgh Kafka,” she whines, “Why can’t we do something fun?”

 

“Because it’s high school.  I thought it was designed to be a pressure cooker of hormones, humiliation, fear and thoughtless stupidity, and the winners are those that crawl out at the end without being so twisted and screwed up they can find happiness out in the real world,” At first she thinks he’s told a joke but he’s so morose that she tucks that piece of him away.

 

“I thought we were there to learn stuff to help us in later life,” she tries to lighten the mood, “I mean I can totally see how I’m going to use knowledge of some dude that wrote in German every single day of my adult life. I mean dad totally uses it every day, damn just the other day he was saying how knowing it helped him pull people over for speeding.”

 

“Really?” Peter’s stopped staring out of the window and is playing along with her attempt at levity.

 

“Oh yeah, absolutely,” she pauses, “Not.”

 

Chuckling Peter is cheering up and she mentally pats herself on the back and acts like her wrist isn’t throbbing as he starts talking, “I can see why everyone is so fascinated by him, he does explore some interesting themes and in his time it wouldn’t have been that easy for him.  And as you said he wrote in German, plus if you read up on him he was into porn, he supposedly had a lot of sex, he was engaged three times, and most biographers agree he had low self-esteem.”

 

“He was into porn?” That wasn’t something she was aware of, “Damn why isn’t the teacher telling us about that?”

 

“We’re supposed to be so interested in him that we search out the information for ourselves,” and Peter’s back to normal.  “We can Google him on my laptop if you want.”

 

“Okay,” and she’s starting to look forward to this study thing.  “Though I warn you, I’m a bit of a goddess at the Google-Fu, prepared to be amazed,” she boasts and hopes her brain doesn’t combust into goo at being so close to Peter.

 

“I will brace for your imminent amazingness and I’ll prepare to bow down and worship you,” he says and she flicks him a look, he’s smirking and she is so going to show him.

 

“You better remember that because I expect lots of bowing and worshipping,” she teases him, “I’ll mark you out of ten, I’m expecting at least an eight out of you.”

 

“Only an eight?” Clasping his hands to this chest he starts doing some kind of dying swan act and whining about being knocked down by her comments.  He’s funny and she laughs at him as she turns down the drive to his house.  “If you look over there you can park up by the garages, we’ll go in the side door to the kitchen.”

 

Following his directions she parks up and they get out, she snags her bag as she goes.  He leads her to a few steps to a wide wooded decking area, there are tables scattered about and the place is roofed off.  From there they go to big French style doors, he slides one open and beckons her into the dark interior.  The click is the only warning she gets as the lights come on and she’s standing in a huge modern kitchen with sleek chrome edging, a big kitchen island, and a frankly obscene double-ovened cooker with at least eight burners on it.  If Peter hadn’t told her about how many people lived here she’d wonder why all the Hales are skinny instead plump, because that thing is built for feeding small armies.

 

Peter’s already looking into one of the biggest fridges she’s ever seen, “Lemonade?” He asks her and holds up a bottle.

 

“Yeah, that’s fine,” and she tracks him as he gets two glasses.  He fills them and picks them up after putting the bottle back.

 

“Ready?” He nods his head towards one of the other doors in the kitchen.

 

“Yeah,” oh god she’s standing in the Hale Mansion, nobody gets invited here, only family and people dating the Hales.  Curious she trails after him and gawks to her hearts content, she knows her mom is going to want to know everything, and while her dad pretends he’s cool and not noisy he’ll press her for even more details.

 

They go out into a big foyer area and there is one huge staircase in the middle, Peter’s already angling for the stairs and she’s swept along in his wake.  They’ve just reached the bottom stair when she hears a giggle and then someone hushing someone else from one of the darkened doorways, she swings around to stare in that direction and there’s shuffling like several people are moving away further into the room where she can’t see them.

 

Frowning she looks up at Peter who’s poised on the fifth step, he’s waiting for her and she’s not ready to call him on this yet so she starts up the stairs too.  Silently she ascends the stairs and listens as hard as she can and there are totally people downstairs in that room.

 

Heading down one of the wings Peter leads her further into the Hale mansion and she notes there are a few big dents in the walls, like something big slammed into them, not enough to do more than dent them, but the dents are almost body sized.

 

Peter’s bedroom is at the far end on the right and he waves her in.  It’s not what he expected at all.  She’s been in a few boys’ rooms down the years and she’s sure it’s not supposed to be this tidy.  It’s a dark blue on the base of the walls and then pale grey at the top.  His furniture is all dark wood and there’s a dark blue set of covers on the bed.  It feels really grown up and not very teenager-y.  TV always shows male teen’s rooms to have posters of bands and sports teams on the walls, of clothes strewn everywhere, it’s never like this room.

 

While she’s been busy studying his room he’s already kicked his shoes off and left the door open, putting a few books down on the floor so it’ll stay open too.  She’s both relieved and a little disappointed at the same time.

 

“So Kafka?” He smiles when he says it and goes to grab his laptop.  He plonks it on the bed and then lays down on his stomach, it isn’t until he pats the space next to him that she realises she supposed to join him.

 

Clumsily she toes off her shoes and crawls onto the bed, and then they really do homework.  He even lets her show off her Google-Fu skills, he sits up on his knees and bows down to her telling her she is a goddess of Google-Fu and his simple mortal self can’t compete with her awesomeness.

 

Laughing at him she thinks for a few minutes and then nods, “At least an eight and a half,” he looks so outraged she laughs harder at him.

 

“Well in that case I’ll have to work on my bowing and worshipping,” He joins in with her laughter and she can’t believe she’s really here, that this is really real.  She’s Stiles Stilinski and she’s in Peter Hale’s bedroom. Not only that but she’s making him laugh, and smile like she’s never seen him smile before, she really hopes this is real.

 

They go back to studying and she can’t help the feeling that he already knows all this, like this is something he’s already done and he’s just indulging her.  She ignores the feeling and just enjoys herself, he’s funny, and smart, and while she’s still seriously aware of him beside her she relaxes and goes with the flow.

 

Branching off from Kafka they start following any links that look interesting to them.  Bouncing all over the Internet they chase stray snippets of information, to the point that she no longer knows how they even got on some of these sites.

 

Suddenly Peter looks up towards his door and sighs resignedly.  He goes back to what they’re doing but his shoulders are tense and she’s really not surprised when a soft knock comes from there.  She looks up to see Talia Hale standing there with a regretful expression, Stiles has met her before because the Hales are big people in the community and her dad makes her go to functions with him and her mom, his excuse is that if he has to go they do too.

 

“I’m sorry to interrupt you two, but it’s getting late, and you both have school tomorrow,” Talia says and Peter huffs but nods.  It’s kind of weird, Talia is Peter’s sister, and Talia used to be the youngest of the Hale siblings, so Peter is now the youngest sibling and he’s younger than some of his nieces and nephews.

 

“Okay, we’re pretty much finished anyway Talia,” Peter shuts down his laptop, “And I guess I can see Stiles tomorrow at school, but I have practice after school,” and that pout comes back.

 

“Well maybe Stiles will have time to see you at practice, and don’t forget you wanted to play basketball, you said you could handle the responsibility and the time management.  And as you don’t have a job like Isaac does, you’ll have all weekend to spend with her, as long as Stiles wants to spend that time with you?”  Now his sister gives him a smirk and it’s eerily similar, she’s also teasing him.

 

“Stiles?” Peter’s voice is so quiet she turns to see him look a little worried, “We had fun right?  You enjoyed our date?” She nods because it has been fun, even the homework bit, “So you’re okay to keep dating?  I can update my status to in a relationship?  Let everyone know you’re mine?”

 

“Peter,” Talia’s voice snaps, “Stiles is not something to own, she is a person, you should ask her if she’s happy letting everyone know you’re a couple now, that you’re learning to run together.”

 

He huffs again as he starts at the bedspread and asks, “Stiles?”  He peeks up at her and he looks so adorable right now that she can’t resist him.

 

“Okay, sure, we can both change our statuses, but you’ll have to friend me first,” and she can’t believe how quickly he gets his phone out to do just that.  Stunned at how easy it is become his girlfriend she prods her own phone and smiles to herself when she not only gets him as a friend, she gets him as a boyfriend.  “Awesome,” she does a fist pump as her status updates and then she gets the notification that Peter’s updated his status too.

 

“Right,” Talia has crossed her arms, “Time for Stiles to go home, and Peter you will not ‘blow up’ her phone with messages okay?”

 

“Fine,” He grumps and then asks, “But what if Stiles messages me and she needs help?  Or I suddenly need help?”

 

Lifting an eyebrow Talia taps a finger on her arm, “Don’t even try it with me Peter, I know you, you are not going to get me to agree to extra clauses, you’ll only twist them to get your own way.  Leave it as open to negotiation for emergency situations, and no, missing Stiles doesn’t count.”

 

“But Talia…” And Peter’s crossed his arms too as Stiles carefully notes things about him and Talia and how they’re dancing around each other verbally.  She also tucks away Talia’s words to think over later on.

 

“No buts Peter, Stiles is going home, you will both sleep in separate beds and you can see her in the morning at school and not before,” and it’s clear Talia is not budging on this.

 

Stepping in Stiles smiles sweetly, “Okay Mrs Hale.  I’ll just get my things and Peter can show me the way out.  Is it okay for Peter to come to mine on Friday? We kind of made plans to go bowling, eat and then hang out at mine.”

 

Nodding Talia looks really happy, “Another date night?  Yes, as long as your parents say it’s okay then Peter can go,” beaming at them Talia takes a step back, “I’ll leave you two to get ready.  Drive carefully Stiles and it was lovely to finally meet you.”

 

With that Talia is gone and Peter slowly helps Stiles get ready, “You really want me to stay,” she’s surprised, not only has Peter jumped at the chance to go out with her Talia also said, ‘finally’, like she’s already heard about Stiles before now.

 

“Of course,” Peter says, “I wouldn’t have agreed to date you or asked you come over otherwise.  I told you I like you Stiles.”  And she’s beginning to suspect he might like her more than he’s letting on and for a while now too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Update is Monday.


	7. Chapter 7

Driving home Stiles alternates between insanely wild happiness and needing to do a happy dance and victory dance combined while screaming in joy; and fascination with Peter and the clues he’s been dropping to her all evening.

 

The way he’d asked her to drive him home.  There was a school full of kids that would have fallen over themselves to do that.  And she’s sure she saw Laura Hale earlier that day, okay Laura was a senior but she had her own car, a black Camaro, so Peter could have gotten a lift with his niece.

 

There was the way Peter didn’t jump out of her jeep when she pulled up outside his house, and the sheer speed of him not only accepting going on a date with her but going to get his coat so they could go straight away.

 

And she can’t work out if the Hales hiding from her is creepy or weird, she’s going with both.  Plus Talia was ridiculously happy that Peter was getting another date.  She’s all too conscious of her wrist and the memory of his mouth there.

 

Parking up in her yard she gets ready to tackler her parents, she can see the police cruiser in the drive she knows her dad’s home already.  Sighing she tries to keep the stupid grin off her face and fails miserably.  She lets her joy take centre stage and gets out of the jeep.

 

Bounding inside she calls out softly, “I’m home!”  No need to wake the twins up, they’re impossible to get back to bed if they wake up.

 

“Hey,” her mom sticks her head out of the kitchen, “Got you some warm milk sunbeam.”

 

“’Kay,” kicking off her sneakers Stiles pads into the kitchen and they’re both waiting for her.

 

“Well?” Her dad is sipping the special healthy fruit smoothies her mom makes for him.  “Did you have a good time?  And do I need to hunt him down and have a ‘talk’?”

 

“Dad!” She hisses and walks over to him, “I had an awesome time, we saw Iron Man 2, then we ate out and did homework at his.” He pulls her into a one armed hugged, “We talked a lot and he didn’t mind when I said stupid stuff, he laughed at my jokes, and it was good, really, really good.”

 

“I’m glad sunbeam,” her dad kisses her forehead, “Congrats on your first date, I’m so happy for you baby.”

 

“We both are,” her mom presses into her back and she’s sandwiched between her parents knowing they love her so fucking much.

 

“Thanks,” she just lets it go and laughs happily.  “I’m glad too, I was nervous but he was so happy and I made him laugh, not at me but with me.  We want to go out again on Friday.  He did want to go to Lydia’s party,” both of her parents stiffen at that, “But when I wasn’t happy with that he said we could do something else instead, so we’re going bowling, then dinner,” and they’re relaxing again, “And then he wanted to come here.”

 

“Really?” Her dad asks, “Does he have any idea of what’s he’s letting himself in for?”  She tells them about the large number of people living in the Hale mansion, “Huh, well in that case we’ll be on our best behaviour so he comes back.”

 

“Thanks dad,” she rests her head on his shoulder.

 

“Sunbeam?” Her mom asks.

 

“Yeah?”  She’s positively giddy right now.

 

“Ask Peter what he likes as snacks and we’ll try and get them in for you.  And do you want me to help you pick something out for tomorrow?  Scout’s phoned for you too, she didn’t want to interrupt your date but she’s happy for you,” Her mom’s arms tighten and Stiles nods her answer, “Okay, finish your milk, I may have already had some consultations with Melissa and we have a few ideas for you both, but then you have to go to bed, deal?”

 

“Deal,” she chugs her milk in one go and all three of them sneak up the stairs to her room.  On her bed are three t-shirts she’s never seen before, she spins to see her parents standing there, “How? Why?”

 

Stepping forward her mom wraps her up in another hug, “Because I know what’s in your wardrobe, and while this Peter seems smart enough to adore you being you, I wanted to give you choices.  And if the date had been a dismal failure you’d still have something nice and good to wear in the morning.  I know how hard the thing with Lydia hit you, those kids were so cruel to you and Scout,” she buries her face in her mom’s shoulder not wanting to think of all the bad things, the gangs of kids, the fights in the girls’ toilets, the name calling.  “I know you’ve liked this boy for a while and I’m so happy for you sunbeam.”

 

“Thank you mom,” she chokes the words out, “Just thank you, and I love the t-shirts.”

 

“Well I helped too,” her dad says and he holds up some red fabric, “Thought you’d like the bold colour, and the Wolves uniform is red, so you can support your boyfriend at the same time.” He lets it hang down and it’s a brand new hoodie, plain and bright.  “Melissa got one for Scout too.”

 

“Thanks dad, just, I love you guys so much.”

 

oOOooOOooOOo

 

Nervously Stiles holds her keys and turns to see her parents standing there, “Sunbeam, you always look beautiful,” her dad says, “So I don’t have to tell you how amazing you are, and if Peter doesn’t treat you right you better believe I am so gonna watch him for any chance to ticket the punk for not appreciating you.”

 

“Dad!” She’s scandalised and happy at the same time.

 

“He’s kidding,” her mom waves the threat away, “If he hurts you they’ll never find the body, and I know the right people to keep the body buried.”

 

“Mom,” she facepalms and shakes her head at her.

 

“That’s the incredibly devious, sneaky, and smart woman I married,” her dad sounds so proud as they kiss and Stiles covers her eyes and complains before bolting for the door feeling better than she did.  She is Stiles Stilinski and she’s awesome.

 

Which lasts until she reaches school and has to get out of her jeep. 

 

She knows where the Hales normally hang out and heads over there hoping she won’t get run off.  Derek and Paige are already there and doing the puppy love gazing thing.  Walking up to them she waves a bit awkwardly, “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where Peter is would you?”

 

“He’s running late,” Derek doesn’t tear his eyes away from Paige’s face, “Laura didn’t come home last night, something about a group of friends and a bar they shouldn’t have been drinking in.  Mom hit the roof and Peter’s been calming her down so she doesn’t kill Laura.  Don’t worry Stiles, he asked me, Isaac and Boyd to keep an eye out for you,” now he looks away from Paige to smile at Stiles, “He had this plan to drive Laura’s Camaro to school but that didn’t work out as Laura didn’t bring it home.”

 

“Oh, okay,” Stiles struggles to stop the fist pump at knowing that Peter still wanted to go out with her and instead stands there a bit more.  “So, what’s new with you guys?” She says like she’s always hung out with them.

 

“Paige has been working on a new piece,” Derek goes back to staring at Paige, “She sounds amazing.”

 

“I’m a little off on the beat,” Paige corrects him, “But I’ll practice until I get it right.  And I’m sure you already know that Derek’s back on the basketball team.  They have practice after school if you want to come sit with me and watch them show off and drive Coach Finstock even crazier.  Do you think Scout would be interested too?”

 

“Sure, and I’m certain Scout will be more than happy to hang around and stare at Isaac,” Stiles grins at Paige, “Thanks.”  She wasn’t expecting to be accepted this easily and she’s not going to question it.

 

“Talking of Isaac and Scout, that’s them now,” Derek is still staring at Paige and Stiles frowns as she stares at the parking lot only to see a car she knows belongs to the Hales appear at the entrance, how had Derek known it was coming in?

 

Her friend spots her a few minutes later when she’s out of Isaac’s car and waves.  The new couple walk over and Stiles notices that Isaac is still holding Scout’s hand, he’s not worried about being seen doing sappy things. “Stiles!” Scout engulfs her in a hug, “I’m so happy for you. Mom told me all about it.”

 

Unable to contain her happiness any longer Stiles hugs her back, “It was awesome, we saw a movie, ate and did homework.  Oh and Paige asked if we wanted to join her when the guys are at practice after school, I thought you’d be happy to watch Isaac do his thang on court,” that makes Isaac duck his head bashfully.

 

“Yeah, and thank you Paige,” Scout beams at the girl, “I’m happy to watch Isaac for hours,” and Isaac goes slightly red at that.

 

Standing there with the two Hales the only thing that would make Stiles’ day even better was if Peter was there, but he’d left a message with Derek and he was going to get here soon, once his family stuff was sorted out.

 

A soft noise drifts from Isaac and Stiles could swear it sounds like a growl, glancing up at him she watches him frown angrily and then a girl is saying, “Oh hi,” twisting her head Stiles sees Felicity, one of the seniors and a cheerleader standing there, “Is Peter here yet?”

 

“No,” Derek’s voice is unfriendly and he’s scowling at the girl.

 

“Oh, I just wanted to tell him that our local lesbo freak Stiles hacked his account to make it look like he’s dating her, she even faked and photo shopped herself into a bunch of pictures with him that are getting passed around online, they’re the new hot topic of gossip,” Felicity snorts and tosses her long platinum blonde hair back like she’s on a shampoo commercial.  “As if he’d be interested in an ugly, unfeminine, tomboy dyke who wouldn’t know what to do with his dick,” the last is said to Stiles’ face and she squares her shoulders preparing to fight back, she is not going to let that bitch get away with insulting her.

 

Suddenly she’s behind Derek who’s appeared like magic and he asks, “What the hell did you just call my uncle’s girlfriend?”  And he’s gone from cute puppy to somewhat menacing attack dog.

 

And he just called Stiles Peter’s girlfriend.

 

“You’re kidding me,” Felicity’s jaw has dropped, “He won’t go out with me? But he’ll go out with that freak of nature?”  Her voice is turning ugly and Stiles enjoys the girl’s moment of crisis.

 

“Yeah,” Stiles shoves her hands in her pockets and rocks on the spot, “I just asked him out, he said yes and we went to the movies, it was fun.  I even got to visit Peter’s bedroom,” she pauses, “In the Hale house,” because no one gets to go the Hale house normally.  “Nice place, loved what they’ve done with the kitchen, and I loved how comfy Peter’s bed is,” Stiles smirks at Felicity.

 

“You’ve been to the Hale house?” Felicity doesn’t know how to process that just standing there stupidly.

 

“Yep,” Stiles’ grin gets bigger, “It’s really nice.”

 

Silence descends and Stiles is stuck in a staring match with Felicity, there’s no way she’s losing this battle.  If there’s one thing she’s learnt as a girl, it’s that other girls are seriously vicious and she’s not going to turn her back for a second.

 

Except life has other ideas and from over near the parking lot there’s loud yelling and cheering, Derek mutters, “Laura,” and Stiles turns to see a cab dropping off a bunch of seniors, one of them being Laura Hale, as well as a few others including Laura’s inner circle of Boyd and Erika.  All of the teens stagger a bit and Stiles is stunned they’ve turned up to school drunk.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to a few comments I’m trying to re-tag and re-label this fic, it’s going to be fluffy, cute, a bit angsty in places, and will not have that deep a plot line. It’s about second chances and love and romance.

With the fallout from Laura’s little outing last night hitting the school scandal gossip lines, Stiles hasn’t had to deal with too much fallout from dating Peter Hale.  No one seems to believe it anyway and she ghosts in under the radar, it helps that Peter is busy helping his sister and has barely had time to say hi to Stiles yet.

 

She has no idea why Peter would be needed to help Talia but from the way Derek and Isaac are acting it seems like it’s the norm.  And they’ve helped her not fall apart by constantly telling her that Peter is furious with Laura for wrecking his first proper day with Stiles.

 

Sitting with Paige and Scout on the benches she waits nervously for Peter to emerge from the locker room onto the court for basketball practice.  He could easily have changed his mind about her and decided their date was horrible, or he could have run into one of the girls he’s slept with and decided to boldly go where he’s already gone before.

 

“Relax,” Paige has her nose buried in a music book, “If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about the Hales, it’s that they take relationships very seriously, if he says he’s dating you he wants to date you.”

 

“I’m fine,” Stiles lies and tries to pretend her knees aren’t jiggling like crazy, her stomach isn’t currently hosting the world’s population of butterflies, her hands aren’t sweaty, and her uterus doesn’t hate her.

 

Chuckling Paige just keeps reading, “Uh-huh, sure you are, if it helps I was nervous when I first started dating Derek, but trust me it turns out they are way more nervous than we are.”

 

“Really?” Scout asks, “Isaac doesn’t seem nervous.”

 

“That because you’re clearly infatuated with him,” Paige is making notes on a notepad, “Peter will be worse because he’s not had a chance to really woo Stiles, though all three of those idiots are going to be extra possessive and I can almost guarantee they’ll say they love you before you get a chance to.”

 

“Greenburg!” Coach’s voice cuts through their conversation, “Seriously I can’t believe you, now go and clean that up, Jesus, kids today,” the man stomps onto the court, “Guys you have two minutes to get out here and start warming up before I make you run suicides,” as per normal he punctuates it with blowing his whistle, sometimes Stiles wonders if the guy is compensating for something when he does that.

 

The guys do start trickling out and Paige even looks over to Derek, she smiles and waves at him, he waves back with the puppy dog look.  Isaac and Scout copy them and while Stiles prides herself on being one hundred percent original she does the same to Peter, only he smirks at her and then blows her a kiss.

 

“See I told you,” and Paige has her nose buried in her music book again as Stiles flushes happily and manages to not do a happy dance on the benches, she’ll do that later on when she’s alone.

 

Practice is fairly straightforward and Stiles watches Peter avidly as the team warm up, work on various moves and then have a small competition of one on one.  It’s here that Peter excels against the rest, he seems to be able to anticipate their every move and he’s worked out a counter strategy before they have a chance to do anything.  He’s breath taking to observe and Stiles finally understands why some people are called poetry in motion.

 

“I wouldn’t say that to his face,” Paige chuckles, “He’s arrogant enough as it is,” and Stiles realises she said it out loud, “Though if you want my opinion, it’s Derek who’s the most graceful and poetic on the court.”  And yeah Derek is good but it’s Peter who’s drawing Stiles’ eye every single time.

 

A big sigh comes from Scout who just says, “Isaac,” dreamily and all three of them burst into muffled giggles.

 

On court the three boys have turned to them and Peter sends a wink to Stiles and follows it up with another kiss blown at her.  “Oh you are going to have your hands full with that one,” Paige says sagely.

 

After practice ends they make their way out front and sit on the benches near the steps waiting for the guys to turn up.  They don’t take long and the three of them burst out of the doors and hurry over, Derek’s hopping and doing up his laces, while Isaac’s buttoning his shirt, and Peter, well Peter looks perfect as he glides up to Stiles.

 

“Hi,” her voice is a bit wobbly, this is the first time today they’ve had a chance to really be together.

 

“Hi,” He doesn’t even hesitate when he takes her hands in his, “I’m sorry about today, I wanted to spend my free time with you,” he frowns, “I was really looking forward to being with you today, you would have made school bearable.”

 

“It’s okay,” She lies, “There’s tomorrow, and I told my parents about Friday, mom wanted to know what snacks you like so you can try and get some in for you, and dad said they’d be on their best behaviour for you too, something about making sure you’d want to come around again.”

 

“Really?” And Peter blinds her with his smile, “Then I will really look forward to Friday, not only do I get a weekend away from this place, I get to go bowling and eat with you, and I really want to get to see your house, after all  you’ve seen mine.”

 

Her heart is fluttering in her chest and she can’t believe those stupid romance novels might have something right, her knees are a bit wobbly and her brain is turning to goo, while she’s really aware of his hands touching her and then she realises her hands are starting to sweat again.

 

“Stiles,” Peter steps closer and rests his forehead gently against hers, “I missed you today,” Holy mother of god this is Peter Hale saying that to her and she clutches tighter to his hands hoping he doesn’t realise hers are sweaty and gross.

 

“Missed you too,” she admits and adds, “Derek said you were running late but I still wanted to see you.”  She’s wearing one of the t-shirts her mom bought her and the hoodie her dad got for her, she put effort into this and she didn’t get to see him, at least he’s here now.  “And here you are,” she smiles up at him and god his eyes are so blue, and he smells so good up close like this.

 

“Yes, here I am,” She’s so used to the normal snarky and somewhat sassy Peter that getting to see his eyes soften as he looks as her makes her giddy.  “And here you are, too,” he lets go of her hands and she’s disappointed until she feels his hands touch her hips and slide around her.

 

Oh god, she has no idea what she’s supposed to be doing so she lifts her arms up and puts them behind his neck.  It also means she can press up against him and that feels really good, plus the way his hands tighten on her back and he pulls her even closer is even better.

 

Her breath is shuddering out of her and her toes are curling in her sneakers again.  Flashing back to how he kissed her wrist she is seriously hoping for some kissing action right now.  She’s close enough to see his pupils dilate and he’s moving his head, tilting it to the side.  She has zero experience at this so she follows his lead and tilts her head away from him, it seems to be the right thing to do because his thumbs are rubbing on her back and his head is moving again.

 

Frozen in place she waits as his mouth gets closer and closer.

 

“Stiles,” his voice is husky like it was after he kissed her wrist, and then he’s kissing her.  His lips are shockingly soft, there’s almost no pressure and she finds herself going up on her toes to kiss him harder.  She can’t believe how good it feels and then he’s groaning softly and she has no idea how to even process this, except it’s good, so good, and she never wants it to stop.

 

Only it does stop and Peter’s murmuring, “Breathe Stiles, breathe, use your nose when we kiss.”  Gasping in air she nods and kisses him again, there’s a rumble from him and he’s laughing a little as they kiss.  He breaks the kiss again, “So eager.”

 

“Damn straight,” she grumbles, “I would like to make a motion that kissing is totally a thing we do a lot, like really a lot, most of the time,” and she manages to capture his lips for a few more heavenly heartbeats.

 

“As you wish,” He pulls away long enough to say and then dives right back in to kiss her brains into fluff.  Hell she might not know what she’s doing but she knows the mechanics, and this is simple kissing, there’s no tongue and just the thought of that is making her want to swoon, and she doesn’t do swooning.

 

Suddenly something goes click in her head and she pulls back from Peter who tries to follow her, “Wait, did you just quote The Princess Bride?”

 

All she gets is a smirk from him, “”Why?  Do you like it?”

 

“Dude, it’s the Princess freaking Bride, it’s corny, sexist as hell, and I love it,” She admits and adds another facet of Peter Hale to the steadily growing list, because while she’s watched him for the last few years, she’s fairly certain there are several things about him she doesn’t know yet, and she wants to know everything.

 

“We can watch it on Friday, I have a copy at home on DVD,” He offers and kisses her nose, she goes cross-eyed to see the tip of it.  “Don’t worry I won’t let the rodents of unusual size harm you my sweet Buttercup,” and she’s suddenly being picked up bridal style as Peter spins them in a circle.

 

“Uh-huh,” she hangs onto his shoulders and wonders if women simply let men get away with carrying them this way so they can grope the guy’s shoulders.  “My dad taught me to shoot, those rodents come near us they’re dead, no one touches my Dread Pirate Peter.”

 

He stops and stares at her and she wants to smack herself, guys have fragile egos, or at least that’s the gist she’s gotten as she’s overheard other girls talk, you have to pander to them or they get upset, and you can’t say they need saving because it’s not macho, or some shit like that.  It’s a good thing they’ve never seen her dad standing on a table as Stiles and her mom chase a spider around the floor.  “So fierce,” Peter practically hisses, “My hero,” and he kisses her, “God Stiles, how could you get any more perfect?”

 

Perfect?

 

 She could totally get used to him calling her that, shrugging she bites her lip, “I can’t help it, it’s a Stilinski thing, just ask my dad, when my mom isn’t listening.”

 

Laughing he lets her down and she happily goes into a hug.  Today might not have started right, but damn it is ending really well.  In fact she wants to pinch herself right now but that’s when Paige suggests they go and hang out somewhere.

 

Scout and Isaac have work soon so they can’t spend too much time together in a group and Paige has practice, so while Stiles wants to pounce on Peter and do more of the kissing thing she goes along to the vet’s and settles outside.  Peter’s found a place they can all sit around and talk out of sight and somehow he ends up right up against Stiles, his arm over her shoulders and she puts her arm around him.

 

What she doesn’t expect is for it to be fun.  She’s so used to it being just her and Scout that having four extra people should be awkward, instead it’s funny.  Derek has such a dry sense of humour she doesn’t get it at first, Paige is warm and a very quiet badass that won’t back down, Isaac is really quiet and then gives hints that there’s a lot more going on than he acts, Scout is just Scout, and Peter is not being his normal self.  In fact he’s not being overly sarcastic or sassy, she’d even go so far as to say he’s being really Scout like and dopey.

 

When she asked Peter out she expected him to turn her down.  Now she’s dating him and his friends are talking with her and laughing with her.  She was totally right, this year was going to be awesome and way better than last year.


	9. Chapter 9

This time when she parks up at school and gets out of her jeep she can see Peter is standing near Derek and Paige.  He’s already staring at her and she manages to not trip over her own feet in her haste to get to him. She has to dodge various teens paired off and getting handsy with each other. In the past she’s rolled her eyes at the teens playing tonsil tennis and snarked about there being more to life, however, Peter’s kisses yesterday put paid to that opinion and she’s wildly enthusiastic about joining in.

 

“Hi,” She greets him and she’s not sure what the hell to do with her hands or anything really, so when he takes one of her hands in his she happily laces their fingers together.

 

“Hey,” He grins at her, “I think I prefer being able to meet you in the morning, you’re like a little sunbeam brightening up my day.”

 

Flushing she has no idea how to reply to that and then awkwardly says, “Thanks, you too,” and she wants to smack herself into the face.

 

“I know,” his grin gets bigger, more wolfish in nature, “I’m like a little miniature sun bringing light and laughter to everyone.”

 

And then Derek coughs something that sounds suspiciously like, “Bullshit,” as he gazes at Paige. He grunts as Peter punches his shoulder without looking away from Stiles.

 

“Boys,” Paige sighs, “Behave, no rough housing before school,” she’s rolling her eyes at them.  “And it looks like Scout and Isaac are here, so you can talk basketball and I can talk to the girls about stuff.”

 

“But we’ve already talked basketball,” Peter says adding, “At home.  Now I’m here with Stiles, and we can talk movies and stuff.”

 

“Uh-huh, how about we talk about how you’re bragging to Derek and Isaac about not going to Lydia’s party on Friday,” Paige crosses her arms, “You know I don’t like those things and you’ve managed to get out of it.”

 

Letting go of her hand Peter steps closer to Stiles and puts his arm around her shoulders, “Paige, with hindsight, Lydia’s party wouldn’t be good for Stiles, so I will sacrifice and not go.” Feeling a little like he’s just punched her with those words she swallows and then brightens as he says, “So I will spend time with my girlfriend instead, I will go bowling and stare at her ass as she bowls, I will eat with her, then I’m going to her house to wow her parents with what an awesome boyfriend I am to her, and then I intend to kiss her, a lot, because that is a motion that was passed in our relationship.”

 

Studying him Paige frowns and then smiles, “Excellent because Derek and I are now crashing your date.”

 

They are?  Stiles is surprised at that and Derek looks surprised by it too.

 

“Who’s crashing what?” Scout asks as she reaches them.  After Paige explains Scout nods, “We’re in too.”

 

“We are?” Isaac asks and then nods when Scout turns to stare up at him with a pleading look, “Okay, we’re in too.”

 

Sourly Peter glares at all of them, “Hey, this is my chance to be alone with Stiles, I gave both of you chances to be alone, I backed off and gave you space.  This is my date with Stiles and then meeting her family, it should be just us.”

 

“True,” Derek nods, “But we hate Lydia’s parties, and this is an epic excuse to get out of it, and this way Isaac and I can lie to Stiles’ parents and make you look good.”

 

“Really,” Peter is not impressed and Stiles should be stepping in but this is funny, she’s not used to seeing Peter being slightly out of control, “And how are going to make me look good?  I’m captain of the basketball team, I always volunteer to help at the big town events, and I’ve never broken the law,” which are all excellent points.

 

“Actually you did break the law, several times,” Derek’s starting to get a shit eating grin on his face, it’s spookily similar to Peter’s.  “Or have you forgotten that you’re under the age of legal consent and you acted like a dog in heat because you didn’t think Stiles was into you, so you screwed around.”

 

That stops her and Peter in their tracks.  It’s one thing to know Peter had messed around as a freshman and that he’s got way more experience than her, it’s another to have Derek throw it in her face, with the tacked on reference that Peter did it because he couldn’t have her.  She has no idea how to deal with that and it just confirms the evidence she’s been gathering that while she might think she took advantage of her chance to ask Peter out, he was also taking advantage of the opportunity to be near her too.

 

“I,” Peter stands there speechless, “I.”

 

“I think you broke him,” Stiles says and leans into his side.  As much as she does want to have time alone with Peter she can also see the sense in what Derek’s just said, “And Derek might be right.  My parents are going to be nosing around to find out what they can about you, if they learn of your past behaviour they aren’t going to be impressed with you dating me.”

 

Sighing Peter pinches the bridge of his nose, “If I could change that I would Stiles, in my defence I really didn’t think you’d ever look at me that way, so I didn’t think it mattered.  I scratched an itch and didn’t think of the consequences, somehow I doubt I’ll get a second chance to make that right.”

 

“Yeah,” She nods sagely, “The amount of crap I’ve pulled has taught me you can’t go back and redo it, what’s done is done, but can you learn from it?”  And it sounds awesome and wise, but you only build one box cart without brakes before you learn why they’re essential.

 

“Stiles,” Peter looks impressed and she preens a bit under his admiring gaze, and then flushes in pleasure when he nods, “Wise words from a wise young woman.”

 

Muffled giggling from Scout spoils the moment and then her friend is gasping for breath, “Oh god, Stiles being wise,” only the fact that Isaac is holding her up keeps Scout on her feet.

 

“Thanks buddy,” Stiles snarks, “Don’t forget I know where all your secrets are buried too, and I could totally be wise.”

 

Shaking her head Scout manages to say, “Pumpkins,” and Stiles freezes in place, oh yeah, she’d forgotten about that.

 

“What about pumpkins?” Derek asks.

 

“Nothing,” Stiles lies, “Nothing at all and no one is going to be asking my parents about that, especially not my dad, okay.  That is now a rule if you guys are crashing my date with Peter, you talk big about him to my parents and you never mention pumpkins, ever.”

 

“Promise,” Paige is holding her fingers up like a boy scout and Stiles narrows her eyes not really believing her, “And we should get inside, it’s nearly time for school to start.

 

Wandering inside Stiles is still suspicious of Paige keeping her promise but Peter’s holding her hand and she pushes it out of her head, because Peter is here and his hand his warm, and Derek did let slip that Peter was totally into her.

 

ooOOooOOooOOoo

 

Holy mother of god, Stiles is going to start throwing punches in a minute.

 

Felicity has her cornered in the canteen and frankly the bottle blonde is getting on her last nerve, “I just don’t see it, I mean you’re only interested in girls and Peter’s all man,” the bitch is saying to a very fascinated crowd.

 

“I’m Bi you ignorant homophobic moron,” Stiles crosses her arms, “It means I like guys and girls.”

 

“Of course you do,” Felicity’s smile wouldn’t look out of place on a shark and that’s being mean to sharks, “It’s just a phase Stiles, you’ve talked Peter into this to hide the fact you’re a gay lesbo, and not even his uber manliness can overcome your freakiness.  In two weeks he’s going to have moved onto his next girl and she’s going to please him far more than you’ll ever be able to with your weird hatred of men.”

 

“Oh my god, do you even listen to the shit you say?” Stiles ignores the sniggers that started with Felicity’s comments.  “It’s like your mouth is linked straight to your ass, the shit just spews right out without touching your brain.”

 

The crowd get a little restless and a few brave souls go, “OoohhH,” this is not going well and Stiles just wishes a teacher would come in and break this up before she let’s Felicity repeatedly walk into her fist.  Her morning was going really well up until now.

 

“Hey Stiles,” And suddenly Erika Reyes is pushing through the crowd, a lot of people wince and move away so Stiles is fairly certain she’s trodden on some toes with those ridiculous high heels of hers.  Moving straight up to Stiles Erika links their arms, “Laura wanted to make it up to you, you know for ruining your first day at school with Peter, so Boyd’s getting us some food while I came to fetch you.”

 

With that the crowd murmurs and pulls back, the so called royalty of the high school are swinging their weight and no one wants to mess with them.  Except Felicity hasn’t gotten the memo and splutters, “Why would you want HER anywhere near you?”

 

“Oh honey,” Erika purrs it, “Peter finally found someone he can stand to be around for longer than two weeks, and frankly it’s about damn time, some of those girls were nice and we were hopeful, but they just didn’t click.  And some of them, you for example, we were hopeful he really wouldn’t click with, and lo and behold you are not dating.  Now we have Stiles, and the boy picked good,” And with that Stiles is all but dragged after Erika, the crowd parting like magic in front of her.

 

Laura Hale is sitting on a table with a bunch of other seniors, though there are a few spaces free around her.  The girl looks up to see them coming over and pats the bench next to her, “Hi Stiles, come sit here.  I wanna meet the girl that caught my uncle’s eye to the point that he’s humming as he walks around the house.”

 

Sitting gracelessly next to Laura Stiles nods at the teens on the table, “He’s really humming?”

 

“Yep,” Laura grins, “I’ve not seen him this happy in years,” she pauses, “Actually ever, I’ve never seen him this happy ever.”

 

“Oh,” That just adds to the pile of evidence and Stiles shrugs modestly, “It’s a Stilinski thing, we’re awesome.”

 

Chuckling Laura nibbles on a french fry, “So I’ve heard, from Peter, a lot.”

 

A tray is placed in front of Stiles and she jumps as Boyd magically appears with food, “I hope this is okay,” and there are curly fries on the tray, a burger and a bottle of orange juice.

 

“That’s awesome, thanks,” She’s grateful for the food and wishes she hadn’t needed the save, she should be able to just go to the damn canteen without having to worry about idiots like Felicity.

 

“No problem,” Boyd settles next to Erika, “As Laura said, it’s nice to see Peter happy, and a happy Peter is a much less snarky Peter.”

 

“I can work on that,” Peter’s voice comes from behind her and Stiles turns to see him standing there.  “Let me know and I’ll schedule it into my calendar just for you.”

 

“Oh I’m good,” Boyd waves away the offer, “And you’ll be amazed how much time a girlfriend takes up, I’m more than happy to let you give her all your attention,” that gets a few hoots from the guys and knowing looks from the girls.  Flushing Stiles eats a curly fry as Peter says he’s going to get some food and then he’ll be back.

 

All in all as Stiles walks out of the canteen later with her hand firmly in Peter’s and laughs as he grumbles about Laura spilling all of his secrets, “Yes Peter, but think of the payback, my parents are more than happy to spill all of my secrets.”

 

“That’s true,” he smirks, “And I believe I need to ask something about pumpkins?”

 

“Hey,” She protests, “Not the pumpkins.”


	10. Chapter 10

Standing in her room she tries on another t-shirt and turns to her mom who’s standing there thoughtfully, “What about this one?”

 

“No,” Her mom shakes her head again, “As much as I like the logo I don’t think this is the right one, I’m glad you support single moms, but it might not be what you’re looking for.”

 

Grumbling and nervous she pulls it off again and dumps it on the bed with the others.  She’s always dressed for comfort and clung to her radical rebel image, even if she knows she’s not really a rebel because she always puts the trash out and does her chores.

 

Almost giving up she shoves her hand in the drawer and picks one at random, it’s an older one and she struggles to get it on.  It’s barely on when her mom says, “Nope, not that one sunbeam, that’s way too tight.”

 

“But…” She whines not really wanting to wear it and getting frustrated with trying to find a good t-shirt.

 

“Let me help,” Her mom walks over and rummages in the drawer, “Nope, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” and there are a lot more nos before her mom goes quiet, “Huh I’d forgotten you had this one, and if we use this other one as a base,” two t-shirts are shoved into Stiles’ hands and she tries them on.

 

The black t-shirt is actually a batman t-shirt and has long sleeves.  Then the red strappy top goes on over and the logo doesn’t show through at all and it looks good.

 

“Much better,” her mom smiles and then she’s handing Stiles a weird little thing that looks like two black hair combs with a web of black elastic criss crossing from the back of one to the other.  It turns out to the easiest of hair accessories to use and Stiles winds her hair up in one hand, pushes one comb in and then pulls the elastic across the bunched up hair to the other side, and then slides the other comb in.  It holds her hair up making her look like she knows what she’s doing.

 

“Thanks mom,” she hugs her one last time before she bounds down the stairs to see her dad and the twins.  Her dad pulls her into a wordless hug and the twins don’t really get it but hope she has a good time.  No ones dared tell the twins about the teens coming to visit afterwards, they’re hyper as it is, best to just spring it on them later.

 

And then she’s driving to the bowling alley to see Peter on their date, that the other four have crashed.  She can’t work out if she’s happy they’ll be there, or if she’s annoyed they crashed it.

 

Parking up she hurries inside and almost crashes into Peter who’s waiting right by the door, “Stiles,” he’s already reaching for her hand, “You made it.” He’s wearing dark jeans, and he’s wearing a shirt he’s buttoned up and he looks grown up and good enough to eat.

 

“Yeah, totally made it, here, with you,” She rambles as Scout comes over towing Isaac behind her, “And them, also with them.”

 

Getting their shoes and going to their bowling lane Stiles is eyeing up Peter’s back and looking forward to ogling the guy’s ass as he bends over, after all it’s his fault for even giving her that idea in the first place, when Scout taps her arm, “Stiles,” she whisper.

 

“Yeah,” Stiles replies absently still caught up in her daydream of Peter and bending.

 

“I can’t bowl, remember,” And Stiles stumbles remembering the last time they were allowed to come bowling and how her dad had to speak to the manager and Scout’s mom patched up the injured people and then they promised to never go bowling ever again.

 

“Oh,” She mutters, “Yeah, that,” crap, it didn’t matter when she was making plans with Peter because Scout hadn’t been invited so she hadn’t had to factor that in.

 

“What do I do?” Scout looks really worried, “I don’t want to look stupid in front of Isaac and you know Peter can be really sarcastic.”

 

And then Peter’s stopped in his tracks and he’s staring at Scout, “So does everyone know how to bowl?  I know it’s not something everyone can do.”

 

This is an excellent out and Stiles puts her hand up, “Err, I’ve played a few times with my family but Scout,” and she really doesn’t want to lie to her brand new boyfriend, but this is Scout, this is her sister, “Um, Scout hasn’t played before.”

 

She really hopes that gets her bestie out of trouble, Peter clearly falls for it, “Not a problem, we can coach Scout and I’m sure Isaac will happily volunteer to help with stances and things.”

 

“On it,” Isaac’s staring at Scout slightly hungrily, “So on it.”

 

Setting up their lane they all get a chance to bowl, the three boys are stupidly good and show off on their turns, Paige gets most of the pins and Stiles is just one pin behind her.  And then it’s Scout’s turn.

 

All three boys crowd her and talk her through finding the right ball, not too heavy, not too light.  Then Peter and Derek both demonstrate how to throw the ball and they line her up slightly to the left of the middle of the lane, and Isaac does indeed help her with her ‘stance’.

 

Holding her breath Stiles watches Scout throw the ball and it’s not a particularly good throw, but it makes it to the end of the lane and three pins go down.  “Yeah!” Stiles does a fist pump, “Go Scout!”

 

Beaming her friend tries again, the three boys being incredibly patient with her and two more pins go down, to Scout’s joy, the girl jumps up and down and hugs Isaac enthusiastically, “Thank you!”

 

“You’re welcome,” Isaac seems to be enjoying the hug and he kisses Scout briefly.

 

They bowl for their two games and Stiles is unsurprised when the three boys tie for first place, none of them missing a single pin, it’d be unnatural if Stiles hadn’t already seen them play basketball, they have insane hand eye  coordination.  Though Paige is staring thoughtfully at Derek, then she blinks and she’s back to normal.

 

Deciding on pizza they crash at the best place in town and grab a big table, not once on the way in does Peter take his arm from around Stiles’ shoulders and she’s really enjoying this.  She’d been worried that she wouldn’t get to have time with Peter but he’s practically glued to her side, he pays attention whenever she speaks, he shares his food with her, compliments her, and is just this dream boyfriend.

 

Going to her house she’s nervous that her parents won’t like Peter, it’s a dumb worry but it could happen and she parks up as the others roll up behind her.  They all pile into her house and the twins take one look at Scout and throw themselves at her, they always have liked her and she’s always so patient and willing to play with them.

 

In the chaos both of her parents manage to sneak up on Peter without her running any interference, she spins in time to see her dad and Peter shaking hands.  Fighting to get through to them she makes it as her mom is smiling at him and it seems to be going okay.

 

“Hey,” she worms in next to Peter and does her best relaxed greeting, “So you guys have now met Peter, and this is his nephew Derek, and their adopted bro Isaac, you already know Scout, and this is Paige.”

 

Her dad gives her a look that lets her know he knows she’s trying to distract them, and she unsubtly tries to tug Peter away from them.  As much as she wants them to like Peter she also wants all sides to not screw up this important first impression, it can be hard to overcome those.

 

“So Stiles mentioned something about pumpkins?” Peter says and she swings around betrayed.

 

“No,” her hands land on his mouth to shush him, “He never said that, he said napkins, totally said napkins,” she tries to cover but it’s too late her dad is chuckling.

 

“Did she now?  Funny story that…” But her mom elbows him in the side, “And we can save that for another day.  I know you kids have just eaten but does anyone want some soda?  And we got snacks for you too.  Stiles why don’t you point out the main bits of the house, we’ve left the front room for you guys, more seating than your room.”

 

“’Kay,” It’s a short tour, and she’s not sure what the etiquette is on showing your room off to your boyfriend but Peter greedily drinks it in as he looks around then they’re hooking her laptop up to the TV as Peter hands over a DVD, it’s the Princess Bride.  Derek and Isaac groan but Scout and Paige perk up, and then the twins crash the mini party as her parents carry in drinks and food.

 

Somehow Peter talks her parents and the twins into staying and she has to sit on the floor next to him, while on screen Wesley says ‘As you wish’ and the daft ridiculous plot unfolds.

 

All four couples curl up as the film plays and Stiles rests her head on Peter’s shoulder.  He moves his head slightly and then her toes curl because he totally kissed her on the head, and he shares his popcorn with her.

 

After the film the twins are made to go to bed and the teens mess around on You Tube to find funny videos.  Then they end up watching the Proposal with her parents, because her mom hasn’t seen it yet, and she curls back into Peter’s side.  Under her ear she can just hear his heartbeat and this is better than anything she ever imagined.

 

When it’s time for the multi date to end Stiles hugs Peter and then her dad is coughing to get her attention.  “Stiles, you mom and I have been thinking, and tomorrow is Saturday.  If you do your chores in the morning, help your mom do the grocery shopping, and don’t wind your brothers up too much.  Well your mom and I were thinking of taking the boys to the park, they can run off some energy in the afternoon, and the house is free if Peter wants to come over for a while.”

 

She can’t believe her dad is letting her have her boyfriend round without any supervision, her mom smiles at her, “Stiles, sunbeam, we are totally trusting you here.  Do not mess this up, prove we can trust you, and there’s no reason why Peter can’t come over whenever he wants to.  Just make sure neither of your grades slip, you don’t fall behind on your homework, and Peter’s family is okay with it too.”

 

“Yes mom,” Stiles does a happy dance there and then, “Thanks I will totally not screw this up.”

 

“Thank you Mr and Mrs Stilinski, I promise we will both behave and I’m sure my family are going to try and entice Stiles over as much as they can too.  I know winter is coming but next summer I hope you’ll join us for summer cookouts, my brother in law does some amazing grilling,” Peter says and moves to hug Stiles, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon then,” he kisses her nose and murmurs, “Sweet dreams buttercup.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry no updates tomorrow :(

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for any and all mistakes, I’ve tried to catch those I could, but I’m only human. 
> 
> FYI – Info on the mirror, Gerard stumbled across rumours of the mirror granting youth, so he searched for it. Stiles dug deeper and discovered that the mirror reflects back your entire life, and stripes everything bare so you are forced to confront everything with no comforting lies to protect you from yourself, imagine seeing everything you’ve ever done and seeing all the consequences and understanding the buried hidden reasons you did any of them. Now imagine being Gerard or Peter and facing all you’ve done. The weight of your actions will kill you, and the extra kicker was that you’d cease to exist, time would reknit itself without you in it, you and all your actions would be erased as if you’d never been. What Stiles did not find, because the page was ripped out of the book he hunted down, was that if you could face yourself and truly repent you might get offered a second chance, you’d get to relive your life and get a second chance because you’d remember everything. The chance of being offered that second chance were miniscule, and the resulting ripple from giving you that second chance would rewrite reality undoing some things, moving others, and making new things. So while it would be the world you remembered it would also be wildly different.
> 
> Also I would like to point out that this is not some cheap way to get you to not realise I’ve done zero work on any of my series and I’m just gonna leave this here and run.


End file.
